1080Wayne
Member
Billy B , Fairborn OH Not surprised you haven`t run across these woods . Caragana is native to N China-Mongolia-Siberia. It has been fairly widely planted across the US-Cdn prairie region for the last 70 or so years , as a farmstead/field shelterbelt shrub , because of it`s drought tolerance . Grows to about 18 ft high . A soft weak wood , difficult to find a piece to give a turning of over 2.25 in dia because of heartwood decay . HOWEVER - To find the others you may have to look outside your window. Pincherry (also called fire cherry or bird cherry) and chokecherry are black cherry cousins. Pincherry`s range is roughly from WV up the seaboard to lat 50, heading W up to lat 60 in the Yukon, down the Rockies to S AB and back across to WV. Small tree up to 25 ft, light, weak wood,up to 3 in or so turned dia . Chokecherry`s range is more southerly, from NC up to S Que and Ont, climbing to lat 50 as it crosses the Rockies, down to Northern Mexico, and back to NC. Small tree up to 30 ft, heavy, hard wood, up to 4 in turned dia . Saskatoon (also called serviceberry or shadbush) covers all of N America with three species, ranging from 15 ft in the West to 50 ft high in the East. Heavy, hard wood up to 3 in turned dia in the West to >12 in the East . Red osier dogwood grows pretty well everywhere between lat 35-55. Shrub up to 9 ft high , soft wood,1 in dia max. Boxelder (also called Manitoba maple or ashleaf maple) ranges from E TX through FL, up to MA, across the lakes to central AB, down through MT and KS. Grows to 60 ft high, 3 ft dia. Weak, light, soft wood, with great red colour when infected with fusarium fungus. I tend to be partial to native woods. Look for the beauty closer to home and save a bit of the tropical forest to see when on vacation. Wayne
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