Two Volunteer Tree Seedlings - Backyard Bed - September 2022

I have had various volunteer trees take off in different parts of our garden over the years.  The American Elm pops up EVERYWHERE.  The Chicago Blues Black Locust does, too.  I've talked about how I have Catalpa seedlings (or what I think are Catalpa seedlings) in different spots of the front and backyard.  For the most part, I rub or rip out the little seedlings before they can become anything of signficance.  

However, there have been a couple of tiny seedlings in the southside backyard bed that I've been watching for the past few months, wondering what they'd become and if they were worth nurturing.  Before we went into Fall, I wanted to document here in the [tree diary] both of these trees as they are currently standing.

First up is a Maple tree.  This Maple (unknown cultivar) is growing up right behind the Fanal Astilbes on the southside.  It is about 24" tall, has a strong central leader and is throwing off a LOT of healthy, green foliage.  See below for two photos showing this Maple tree volunteer:

The other volunteer tree seedling in this same bed is a more interesting tree.  But, in a worse spot.  See below for a photo showing a seedling with fan-shaped leaves that have the 'feel' of what normally comes in a Ginko tree:

You can see that this seedling is coming up RIGHT UNDER THE FENCE.  So, it is not ideally situated.  But, nevertheless....she persists.  (That's what they say, right?)

I thought about moving it, but I'm pretty sure if I dig it up, there's a VERY good chance that I damage the tap root and end up killing the tree.  The alternative is to just leave it alone.  See if it makes it over Winter and then help train it away from the fence with the hope that it continues to grow.  

#7 on my 2022 to-do list talked about continuing to 'work trees' including seedlings.  Marking this post down as another data point on that list item.   

My overwintering plan for these is to simply: do nothing.   They likely require (dang) rabbit protection, but I'll only do that if I have enough material to get to these.