If you are the type of homeowner who likes the outdoors and appreciates the need for a shady retreat somewhere in your yard, then cultivating a shade tree can be a very beneficial act.
The “Shade Tree” is one of those landscaping classifications that has to do with usage, rather than botany.This term usually applies to large trees with spreading canopies.
Shade trees are used to accomplish just what their name suggests: they blot out some of the sun that would otherwise be pounding down on an area of your property.
They can cool your home and/or a portion of your yard and provide a peaceful outdoor retreat.
Shade trees can enhance the privacy of a garden by obstructing the view.
Things to look for when choosing a shade tree include the nature of the leaves coverage, longevity, and the ability of the roots to damage foundations. Quick maturation is generally considered a plus.
Some of the most popular shade trees in temperate countries are oaks, maples, ashes, lindens, and elms.
In tropical countries, trees such as the African tulip tree, Hopea odorata and some Erythrina species are often planted as shade trees.
In Guyana the most popular shade tree in landscaping is the Indian almond tree a large tropical tree in the lead wood tree family combretaceae, scientifically known as Terminalia catappa.
T. catappa is widely grown in tropical regions of the world as an ornamental tree, grown for the deep shade its large leaves provide
The tree can be encouraged to spread laterally and provide a larger area of shade by cutting the apical bud at the top of the tree during the early stages of its growth.
Fitz Ogle, Agronomic Engineer and principal of the Evergreen Nature Study School explained that removal of the apical bud stimulates growth in the lateral direction.
The lateral buds grow and produce new shoots, which compete to become the lead growth.
Pruning makes use of this natural response to damage of the apical bud to direct plant growth and produce a desired shape, size, and/or productivity level for the plant.
The principle of apical dominance and the response to damage for example is manipulated for hedge building.
By careful pruning, it is possible to create a quite remarkably well spread Indian almond shade tree for a section of your yard as your personal outdoor retreat.
PS: Suitable Pictures of Terminalia Catappa can be found by the Layout person on Google Internet.
By Clifford Stanley