Sugarberry or Persimmon?

[suaf]

My village has a cost share tree program for parkway trees and I am filling out the form. 2 of the choices are Sugarberry or Persimmon. There are others but I am leaning towards these as a parkway tree. I'd like a tree that attracts wildlife (birds, squirrels, raccoons etc), grows fairly quickly, has nice fall color and can stand up to the elements of northern Illinois climate (including road salt).

The tree will not have 'full sun' as it will have some shade from the honeylocust to it's south - but as most of you know - honeylocust only filters some of the sunlight - but not all.

I have looked up the 2 trees and they appear to grow about the same size. Any suggestions out there on which one is preferrable? Thanks in advance!

Suaf

 

[rebelman]

I'm partial to persimmon. It's really strong, loved by wildlife, don't know about the road salt. Attractive barks, good color most autumns. Then again, I deal with persimmon quite a bit, and to my knowledge have never worked with sugar berry.

 

[begleytree]

I've always heard a hackberry called a sugarberry down south. we talking about the same tree?
-Ralph

 

[rebelman]

I have worked with plenty of hackberry. they are brittle, though, prone to splitting in ice, not really good for urban settings. Persimmon are so strong they made golf clubs from them in the day.

 

[Shipper50]

I have persimmon trees in my front and side yard that the birds seem to like. This a new tree for me since I moved from Northern to Southern Indiana. The locals all seem to like persimmon pudding, so I guess its a good tree to have around.:hmm3grin2orange:

Shipper

 

[pbtree]

Persimmon gets my vote...

 

[spongygumz]

Persimmon

Go with the persimmon.But don't eat the fruit until after the first frost.Can you say "Pucker up"?

 

[sawyerDave]

Persimmon

I can remember as boys when we took the communion wine out of the church, and replaced it with green persimmon wine. The congregation had to WHISTLE the closing hymn. (LOL) that still cracks me up! We need some good southern comedians like Jerrry Clower today, may he rest in peace.:angel:

 

[1953greg]

+4 Persimmon

I've always heard a hackberry called a sugarberry down south. we talking about the same tree?
-Ralph

just fyi
hackberry and sugarberry (aka smooth hackberry) are different species trees. hachberry has serrated leaf edges and is an upland tree. sugarberry has smooth leaf edges and is a bottomland tree.

both are ugly