Thanks for teaching me a new word! Never heard of “oodles” before and I will surely be using it at an annoying rate in the future lol.

just planted one today in my back yard close to the fence line.

Interesting question! I've read that Tilia americana can reach heights of 130 feet (40 meters), though mature specimens are usually around 60-80 feet (18-24 meters) tall. That's roughly the size range of most basswood trees I've encountered, though my experience is pretty restricted to the Appalachian mountains. So it's not too far off from its European cousin! I'd say that based off what you're saying, T. cordata is perhaps more of a "pioneer species", meaning it rapidly establishes on recently disturbed sites. My experience with T. cordata as a hardy street tree backs this up; species that can persist for decades in those incredibly harsh conditions are often adapted for colonization of disturbed sites in nature. T. americana certainly can grow quickly in the open, but it isn't often the predominant species in a forested stand. It does reproduce and grow well in light to moderate shade, so it's a pretty happy member of both newer and older forests. I wouldn't call it an understory species though; its goal is to become part of the main canopy, rather than to dwell in the midstory. Here in the eastern US, we don't have many (arguably ANY) "old growth" or "primeval" forests left, so it's hard to say how each species' niche varies from what it would have been historically. Our entire forested landscape has been incredibly modified from its historical condition; we have fragmented and reduced our forest cover, introduced scores of invasive plants, eliminated apex predators which increases understory herbivory, lost the American chestnut which was once a predominant canopy species, suppressed wildfires which many species are highly adapted to, selectively logged out valuable timber species, and many more ecological blunders. I hope that addresses your question!

Thank you very much for such a detailed answer, Ryan! After I had asked you the question, I suddenly realized that the height of a tree in the mountains is less in most cases than on the plain; this is due to the thickness of the soil, and this especially affects species with deep tap roots like linden trees. Tilia cordata in the Southern Urals forests is lower than in the very deep clay and loamy soils of the plain, and does not exceed 22-24 m (under the same hydrothermal conditions). And the forests you're talking about are located on the Allegheny Plateau and the Appalachian Mountains, so most likely both species are the same in this sense

I'll write a little clarification, if i may. In North America broad-leaved forests, after all, are much better preserved than in completely flat Eastern Europe. Of the approximately 440 million hectares, that were covered by the shadow broad-leaved forests in the pre-anthropogenic period (in the european part of the USSR), very little remains. These forests were destroyed by the second half of the XIX century: these are the best soils in the forest zone, and they were turned into arable land for many centuries, the linden itself was used for all sorts of purposes (only 1.5 billion pairs of bast shoes per year were produced in tsarist Russia). As for your thesis about the more pioneer nature of small-leaved linden, this is not quite true, although it is really used for urban greening due to its resistance to gas pollution, but it does not grow well among asphalt. In east-european forests, the linden is the most shade-tolerant species, with which only the maple (Acer platanoides) can be compared (similar to the american sugar maple but not so big, usually up to 20-24 m), it even needs a fairly strong shade in the first 7-10 years of life, and then becomes more responsive to light and grows faster if the lighting improves. But, nevertheless, if maple, ash or elm undergrowth occurs in the same gap (these trees grow in linden forests), they grow faster than linden at first. But in the end, after 25-40 years, the linden exceeds them and forms the upper layer. Naturally, it never inhabits open spaces like birch or aspen. And what species dominate the upper layer in Tioga forest and what second one?

@@fiercecassowaryv3366 Wow, thanks for all this information! I LOVE learning and thinking about forest history/management in other parts of the world. Here in the mountains of Pennsylvania, we have a few different mature upland forest communities. The most common is what we call "mixed oak-hickory forests", which contain Quercus and Carya species in addition to maples (mostly Acer rubrum and Acer saccharum), black cherry (Prunus serotina), tulip-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica), and others. The mid-story of these forests often has saplings of these species, plus shade-tolerant species like musclewood (Carpinus caroniniana), ironwood (Ostrya virginiana), striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum), and others. The understory of healthy oak-hickory forests usually has strong populations of blueberry (Vaccinium sp) and mixed shrubs (Lindera benzoin, Viburnum sp, etc). These forests are often found on drier sites that were clearcut for timber around 100 years ago (our oaks are experts at stump-sprouting and respond well to clearcuts), but haven't been altered much since. This community is susceptible to the unsustainable logging practice of select-cutting (or high-grading), where high-quality individual trees are removed for timber but most of the canopy remains, because most oaks and hickories are only tolerant of light shade. If high-grading happens repeatedly, we're usually left with a canopy that is mostly red maple (Acer rubrum) and black birch (Betula lenta), with seedlings of those species and invasive plants in the understory/mid-story. This gets compounded by our overabundance of white-tailed deer, who selectively browse oak, hickory, and cherry leaves over birch, beech, and invasive plants. Oak-hickory forests can start to shift over time to be dominated by canopies of fully shade-tolerant beech (Fagus grandifolia) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum). American beech is not considered to be a high-value timber species, so hardwood forest management in PA can often involve selectively removing these species as saplings, to keep the stand in the oak-hickory community which is often more desired for timber and wildlife. We also have some remnant hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) forests that were mostly skipped over by loggers due to steep slopes or remote conditions, and pockets of forests with important pine components (eastern white pine, Pinus strobus, in some areas and pitch pine, pinus serotina, in others).

Thanks for answer, Ryan! I suspected even earlier that american forest oaks (as well as oaks in general) and caryas could not have too high shade tolerance; recently I also read about this in articles on vegetation of Nanatahalla and Pisgah reserves. If I understand you correctly, beech and sugar maple have a competitive advantage in the climatic conditions of Pennsylvania's belt of broad-leaved not only over oaks and caries, but also over seriously shade-tolerant species like linden. How do you think the Quercus-Carya formations were maintained in the pre-colonization period and were not completely replaced by Fagus-Acer ones? They were localized on the southern slopes, subjected to strong insolation, due to soil-geomorphologic factors, sometimes happening severe droughts, periodic fires, activity of herbivores or for other reasons? And one more question: do you observe normally developing young individuals of virginal stages of oak/hikory under the canopy of their own mature forests?

I'd recommend waiting until winter to prune if possible! In my yard I frequently have to tie up side branches of fast-growing trees and shrubs to keep them out of the way until I can prune more safely in the winter.

great question! I've never seen basswood that far south. But I'm guessing they'll bloom in late May-early June there, after black locust and tulip-poplar flowers have faded. Let us know if you see otherwise; it will be good information for us to share in the future!

It’s June 8 and I just saw a little leaf Linden in full bloom in Culpeper, VA (zone 7a). So if they bloom at the same time...

It may do quite well in lowlands! Outside of the mountains I do plant it quite a bit in riparian habitats; it flourishes here on floodplain soils and grows quickly

American Basswood is not native to Louisiana

I've seen Tilia on several different lists for being tolerant/intolerant of juglone so I'm confused too. I guess I have to grow them together and find out!

Ahem... Everybody know tulip poplar.