Why Plant Green Gable™ Black Gum/Sour Gum?
Green Gable™ Tupelo is a dapper new selection of our beloved native Tupelo Tree with upswept branches that give this handsome shade-maker a perky, pyramidal habit. Use it to line your driveway in high style, show it off as a street tree for the whole neighborhood to enjoy, or plant a single specimen outside your window where you’ll get to see it every day. You’ll especially want a window seat in fall, when its glossy, deep green foliage turns a radiant red. Faster growing than other Tupelo Trees, Green Gable™ will get right to work at creating a sensation in your garden!
A close relative of the Tupelo Tree of the Deep South, which gives bees the raw material for making the famous “Tupelo Honey,” this species of Tupelo lights up forests and landscapes in a much greater area of the eastern U.S. each fall. It is long-lived and can put on its annual autumnal fireworks for hundreds of years. Green Gable™ Tupelo was selected from a batch of seedlings in 2002 by Tennessee nurseryman, Alex Neubauer. It was named for its tightly pyramidal habit (a “gable” is a peak on the side of a building). In autumn, its leaves turn as red as the hair of the heroine in the Anne of Green Gables story as well.
How to use Green Gable™ Black Gum/Sour Gum in the landscape?
Tupelo has many aliases, including “Black Gum,” “Sour Gum,” and “Pepperidge.” If that last one sounds familiar, it’s probably because that’s the tree you see on packages of “Pepperidge”Farm® cookies! (Apparently “Sour Gum” brand cookies doesn’t have the same marketing appeal.) Tupelo’s official Latin name, Nyssa sylvatica, means “Water Nymph of the Forest” and refers to this tree’s fondness for growing in moist to wet soil in the wild. However, it grows just fine in ordinary soil, too.
Planting Zones
Hardiness Zone: 4-9
How To Plant Green Gable™ Black Gum/Sour Gum
The Green Gable™ Tupelo is an easygoing, adaptable tree, and it is bound to be planted more when people learn of its many virtues. It’s a great tree for that troublesome low spot in your yard that always stays wet, but it’s equally suitable to average garden conditions, and once established it will only need supplemental irrigation during prolonged periods of drought. It’s also tolerant of salt spray and can be used in coastal plantings, although it does appreciate a bit of shelter from very strong winds. Green Gable™ is resistant to the largely harmless but rather unsightly leaf spot disease that can afflict some Tupelo Trees as well.
How To Water
When planting, be sure to give your tree a deep watering initially. After that, water twice a week during the first growing season.
How To Fertilize
When planting, mix Bower & Branch Elements Starter Plant food granular form into the soil. After that, fertilize each year in early spring before your tree breaks dormancy.
How To Prune
The best time to prune your Black Gum tree is in late winter. Simply remove any damaged or dead branches that you see for the overall health of your tree.
How Does Shipping Work?
Bower & Branch Trees, the real BIG trees, don’t fit in a box! Our big trees, sizes XL and bigger, require expert delivery and care, that means our extra-large trees are shipped on Bower & Branch trucks. We are the only ones who know how to ship our big and bigger trees and plants with tender loving care. We deliver your trees and plants directly to you. Ask Bower & Branch about planting services – we'd be happy to assist in installation.
*For Big trees and Shrubs, Size XL and bigger: Review our Seasonal Shipping Timelines and Policy here.
Your trees and plants are grown across the United States at various Bower & Branch Growers. Depending on your location, your plant orders may be shipped from various locations. Please expect orders with multiple items to be delivered over a number of days as a result. Orders made up of numerous items or selections will not arrive at your home on the same day.
Shipping Delays:
From time to time, Bower & Branch Growers may determine to delay order shipment based on various factors for plant health. Weather in your region, as well as, where your plants are grown, is always considered when shipping. Extreme weather conditions may delay some or all of your order. Bower & Branch allows our Growers to make final shipping decisions based solely to benefit your trees and plants’ health and success.
How Does Sizing Work?
The size of our trees have nothing to do with the container size like you may find elsewhere–big doesn't mean just height - it’s also vigor, age, and overall health. Other online retailers are going to tell you that a plant is a seven gallon, that means nothing to your tree or plant (or you.)
Our trees for sale online are graded on large, x-large, and even bigger sizes. This is because our trees are sized by their age—the higher the letter, the more mature the tree. The age determines the trees’ overall height, size of the trunk and the overall branch density.
All of these characteristics are what you should be looking for when choosing a tree for immediate impact and instant curb appeal. Our extra-large tree and plant sizes are sure to wow you and your neighbors!
See the size guides below.
