Slender Silhouette Sweetgum Tree

We are enjoying watching our Sweetgum Silhouette grow into a healthy addition to our landscape! No disease, is not bothered by pests, and has almost doubled in size in 1 year. Ordered the 4-5 foot tree, and it is now about 7 feet tall.

Looking good and optimistic about its quick out-of-the-box growth. Just battling to keep the deer 🦌 away.

The narrow profile of this tree is perfect for our small-ish back yard. It arrived in spectacular condition even with our high heat. It has hung on to every leaf and is delighted with its new home.

...it's doing alright. I'd ordered 7 others from another nursery of the same height, between 3 and 4 feet. I wasn't aware that they would, but they came early spring not as potted trees but as bare roots-- no leaves, just buds and the roots in a plastic bag not with soil but this sort of pulverized bark. I immediately planted them in a row spaced 10 feet apart along the back border of my backyard. In just a couple weeks, all of them started coming as the buds on and at the ends of the branches started bursting forth thick clusters of leaves, but the second from the end remained just a stick. Since I'd ordered that nursery's whole stock and since it was important for the aesthetic I was going for that they all look uniform now and as they grow, I searched for another. I found FastGrowingTrees.com sold them at the same height and as a potted tree, not a bare root, though at a cost of 50% more, but there wasn't much out there in slender silhouettes, much less of the right height, so I bought it. It arrived a few days later fully leafed out. It was beautiful-- straight, leaves evenly dispersed, and in good health. I did notice, however, that despite being the same height as the rest, the rest have a trunk girth of about 1" at the base, while this one has a girth of about 1/4", meaning that though it's as tall as those trees and as filled-out leafwise, it's at least two years younger than they are. As how fast trees grow, especially in height, slows as they get older, so this likely wouldn't look as uniform as I'd hoped, particularly over the next 5 to 10 years as it'd likely be taller with a thinner trunk, so I decided to give that one slender silhouette that still was just a stick in the ground every chance I could on the hopes it was just a late bloomer and not really dead before resorting to this tree, but in the meantime, I needed to get this tree, the slender silhouette from FastGrowing Trees, in the ground. Then, if need be, I'd replant it. So I planted in an area right on the north side of my house that's shady, gets a lot of moisture, and has well-draining if slightly sandy soil and where a couple years ago I'd taken out an overgrown evergreen that never should've been planted there by the prior owners and was growing into the house and that ever since I've been using as a catch-all or nursery for plantings I get from people before I know what to do with them and to get them established and for plants that were failing to thrive in the landscaping along the front of my house, which being south-facing is full-sun. When I planted it, I decided that if I never needed to transplant it into that other tree's location, it'd be a perfect location for it as, despite being just 5' from where the eaves stop on my house, would never grow into the eaves, nor would its deep, non-invasive roots affect the foundation of my house, which is on a slab foundation. Well, the other tree DID turn out to be a late bloomer, took about 3 to 4 extra weeks to have its buds start leafing out from the other ones, and, oddly enough, has grown more than the other ones such that it went from the slightly shortest of the bunch to now the slightly tallest, so I've decided to leave this slender silhouette, the one from FastGrowing Trees, where it is, even though I wasn't sure I could because they like full sun and this spot it's in will only start giving its leaves full sun and not partial- to full-shade at about 10 feet of height, but aside from some of its bottom leaves turning purple right after planting and aside from it having a mild case of chlorosis (leaves lighter green than the others and than they should be) all summer, something sweetgums are prone to, especially in moist, well-draining soil as it tends to get a bit alkaline and sweetgums are more sensitive than most to alkaline soils as their roots have trouble drawing iron from it, which it's that bit of a lack of iron that keeps their leaves from darkening all the way and staying a lighter shade of green, I decided to leave it there. Now, it's doing very well. The leaves still aren't as dark as the others, but they've darkened, meaning the roots are adapting and/or have grown down into the deeper soil that isn't as alkaline and that's rich in iron, but the main take away is the chlorosis is improving and I expect will be nonexistent by summer's end or next summer. What's more, despite not being in full sun and in soil conditions it clearly doesn't prefer, it has grown at a pace similar to the others, so now mid-July, it's grown about a foot in height. While it would've grown more had I planted it in ideal growing conditions, I didn't need or necessarily want it to, and in the end, I think it'll be better for it since slender silhouette sweetgums, according to everything I've read, have a tendency to have their tops split into two tops, thus defeating desired column effect, if their living conditions are too ideal, which is why the recommendation is not to fertilize them and not take measures to maximize their growth speed, which can pushed to over 3 feet a year, but to target a growth rate of 2 to 3 feet a year, so having realized a foot of growth so far this season in mid-July in the year it was planted and getting established is excellent. I expect this slender silhouette, which ended up being an extra, will look anything but but will grow up to look perfect where it is and perfectly coordinate or tie in with the slender silhouette sweetgums that line up 10-feet apart and form a fence row directly across the backyard from it.