Black Walnut Tree

Blake Walnut trees play a huge role in my life. There were about 30 Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) trees at my parent's cottage in Bayfield, Ontario. I loved those huge trees and they were easily 150 feet tall. They stood tall and straight as the area was quite wooded. In a backyard they are more likely to have a shorter trunk and a broad crown. It was wondrous to spend time under those trees and I must admit to missing them.

We do have a black walnut tree next to us. A squirrel likely planted it as this particular one appeared as a sapling about ten years ago. No one plants them in a yard as it releases chemicals which harm other plants. In particular it poisons garden plants and grasses (allelopathic) particularly herbaceous and woody plants. It is known as a common weed tree. The roots, inner bark, nut husks and leaves contain a nontoxic chemical called hydroijugalone although the action is just in direct proximity.

Some plants can not grow under the black walnut tree. Hosta does well though and through the years we replaced all of our other plants with Hosta on the side where our neighbour has a Black Walnut Tree. As we age Hosta are certainly less work!

Myself I would not grow a tree so close to the house. We are thinking of taking down the tree out front as it is very large and not that far from the house. We planted our large maple many years ago but at the back of the yard where we can enjoy it and not have it fall on our house! But trees grow and we are constantly pulling out saplings of the various types of trees around us.

Trees are beautiful though and I do love them very much. They are here when we are born and here when we die. They live for hundreds of years and what a story they could tell! Their thousands of roots stretch out from the base of the tree and can be found far from the tree particularly in the heavy clay soil that we have here. When the soil is dry; it is very dry and the tree roots sink down to find water and they steal it from the plants around them because they are more efficient and can seek water much deeper. Hence I tend to remove roots where I am planting. The tree will grow more roots but the plant will have a chance to grow until it can compete with the tree for water.

Our garden is another story though. We can no longer grow anything on the one side of our garden except for plants that tolerate Black Walnut. On the other side plants tend to be somewhat stunted although peppers apparently do not too badly. But tomatoes do not do well at all and we no longer plant them in our main garden. But we are aging and I do enjoy trees so until we move we will gradually garden less, plant more hosta and love the trees!