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The Winter Landscape
My friend and neighbor, Connie Kousman, is one of the few people I know who likes swamps. She is an avid kayaker who collects cranberries and other plants that do well in wet areas – swamps, ponds and lakes. I called her recently to see if she knew where I could pick some winterberry (Ilex verticillata) for use in vases and on my wreath. I grow winterberry, but this year I didn’t get any of those bright red berries I like so much for decoration. No, Connie allowed that this was a bad year for winterberries – and wild cranberries, too. Some years are like that.
Red Twigged Dogwood
This prompted me to walk around my property looking at my woody shrubs to see what might substitute for winterberries. I didn’t find any berries at all. But I did cut some red-twigged dogwood (Cornus sericea) to use in a vase, and some budded branches of a Merrill magnolia (Magnolia x loebneri). The magnolia buds are a bit like pussywillows on steroids: an inch long and very fuzzy. I have some in a vase on the table, and they look very good, and will for many weeks ahead. I cut some greenery to go with them, a few stems of juniper.
Recently it struck me that winter can be pretty bleak for people who don’t have nice looking winter shrubs and trees. And that judicious pruning can turn a cluster of small river birch, for example, from something akin to an unmade bed into lovely focal point. The trick? Cut off small lower branches that are just clutter, and that can never develop into handsome thick branches. When pruning, I ask myself, what will this little branch, currently the thickness of a finger, look like when it is the thickness of an arm – or a leg. If it is growing sideways toward a walkway, it must come off.
But back to woody plants that look good in winter. Bark is important. I like plants that have exfoliating bark, which means bark that is shaggy and peeling off – thus showing more than one color. My Seven sons Flower Tree (Heptacodium miconioides) is one of those. In addition to the nice bark it offers me a display of small white flowers each fall. White birch (Betula papyrifera) and river birch (Betula nigra) are others with interesting bark. In fact all the birches have handsome bark.
Magnolia Buds
I’ve been growing a paperbark maple (Acer griseum) for about 10 years. It has lovely shaggy reddish-brown bark that is very handsome. It is a very slow-growing tree, at least in this climate. It is listed as a Zone 5 plant (good to minus 20 F) but mine has survived colder temperatures. It looks great in winter.
One of my favorites – but one I do not grow – is sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), which I knew growing up in Connecticut but is rare in New Hampshire where I live. It reminds me of the English plane tree, so common in Europe. The bark peels off in big swaths, showing light gray-green in some areas, dark brown in others.
Of the bigger trees, I like American beech (Fagus sylvatica) for its smooth gray bark. Unfortunately, beeches are prone to a fungal disease that mars the bark and eventually kills the tree.
That same smooth bark is a prominent feature of a shrub known variously as shad bush, serviceberry and Saskatoon bush. All belong to the genus Amelanchier but bear different species names. Most are multi-stemmed bushes that get no more than 10 feet tall, though I have a wild one more than twice that height. You may have noticed that wild ones alongside the road – they are understory plants that are one of the first shrubs to bloom in the spring. Their blossoms are similar to apple blossoms. They do well in partial sun.
Curly crabapple
Apple trees, particularly crabapples, can look great in winter. Some crabs hold onto their fruit throughout much of the winter, some drop their fruit in fall and many provide fruit for the birds to eat (that disappears before winter is done). Ask at the nursery when you buy a crabapple if the birds like the fruit.
I have a “curly” crabapple, one that was trained at the nursery to have leader that curls around in a gentle swoop. Instead of growing tall, it has been trained to grow in a rough corkscrew. Mine has weeping branches, most of which aim towards the ground, and although I’ve lost track of its name, better nurseries should have it. I got mine at E.C. Brown’s Nursery in Thetford, Vermont.
Last but least are the broad-leafed evergreens: rhododendrons, azaleas and mountain laurels. Their leaves don’t drop off and can look handsome in winter against the snow. The leaves can dry out on sunny days and get very wrinkled, but that does not damage the plants. You can minimize this effect by spraying them with a waxy product known as Wilt-Pruf.
So if your landscape has little to offer you in winter, plan on adding some winter interest come planting time. And if your trees and shrubs are drab, think about adding some strings of little winter lights to brighten them up, at least at night.
Read about Henry’s new children’s book at www.henryhomeyer.com. Write him at P.O. Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746 or e-mail him at henry.homeyer@comcast.net. He is always pleased to hear from you.
Identifying Trees in Winter
Before we launch into this week’s article…
Gardening Classes with Henry
Lebanon College: Gardening: A Practical Workshop. Garden writer Henry Homeyer will teach you the basics of organic vegetable and flower gardening. From garden design to seed-starting , planting, watering, weeding, mulching, and harvesting, this course will give each student practical knowledge of gardening. Tuesday nights from 6:30-8:30 for 5 weeks, April 3-May 2.Contact Lebanon College to reserve a spot for this5-part workshop www.lebanoncollege.edu or call 603-448-2445.
AVA Gallery, Lebanon. Henry will teach 3 classes at AVA Gallery this spring. You may sign up for one or all of these workshops:
Sculpting the Living Landscape: Starting Flowers from Seed
April 9; Monday, 6:30–8:30pm; One 2-hour class
Sculpting the Living Landscape: Perfect Perennials for the Upper Valley Garden
April 23; Monday, 6:30–8:30pm; One 2-hour class
Sculpting the Living Landscape: Organic Techniques for Enriching Soil and Managing Pests
May 7; Monday, 6:30–8:30pm; One 2-hour class
For more information go to www.avagallery.org or call 603-448-3117.
Identifying Trees in Winter
Most of us enjoying knowing the names of our acquaintances – including trees. It’s tougher to identify trees in winter because most have no leaves, which is how we generally recognize trees. But by observing overall shape, bark, branching patterns, buds and the presence or absence of leaves, you should be able to pick out several common trees quite easily.
The trees discussed here include 5 that keep all or some of their leaves; the rest lose all their leaves. The first group includes white pine, Canadian hemlock and spruce, all of which have green needles – their form of leaves. Oaks and beeches are broad-leafed trees that hold all or some of their leaves, though the leaves are dead and brown. Young trees hold more of the dead leaves than more mature ones.
White Pine
White pine (Pinus strobus) has clusters of 5 soft needles, each about 3 inches long. Branches grow in whorls off the trunk; each year the tree grows just one new set of branches, so you can see how fast they grow by observing the distance between whorls on the main trunk. From a distance you can see clumps of needles pointing up near the top of the tree.
Canadian hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) has short, flat needles that feel soft to the touch and that have a white line on the underneath side of each. It is one of the few trees in the woods that can grow in deep shade – as well as full sun.
There are several kinds of spruce (Picea spp.), but all share this characteristic, which will separate them from hemlock trees: turn over a branch and observe the color of the leaves. If the needles on the top side and the bottom of the bough are the same color, it is a spruce. Spruce needles are pointy and sharp. Spruce hold more snow on their branches than other evergreens, too, often leaving little snow beneath the tree.
Beech Leaves
American beech (Fagus grandifolia) is most easily identified by its smooth gray bark; some older trees have bark that is scarred by a fungus. Their buds are up to an inch long with sharp pointy ends; they are shaped a bit like little cigars. Young beech trees hold lots of leaves but the older ones tend to lose most. Leaves are 2-5 inches long, oval, and have serrated edges.
Oaks ( Quercus spp.) also hold at least a few leaves. The leaves are lobed, often ending in a sharp point. There are a few oaks that have different shaped leaves, but you probably won’t come across one. Acorns are a dead giveaway, too, though most acorns have fallen by now.
Buds and small (side) branches are either opposite each other on a branch or they alternate – one here, one
farther along on the other side. Only 3 common trees have opposite branching: the maples (many species), ash (4 species), and horse chestnut. There are several kinds of shrubs that have opposite branching, including viburnums, most dogwoods, lilacs and honeysuckles. Don’t be deceived by the fact that often twigs are broken off, so that the branching pattern may not appear at first glance to be opposite.
Of the many kinds of maples (Acer spp.), sugar and red maples are common in most woods. At the end of each branch you will see 3 buds: a terminal bud and a bud on each side of it. The buds are sharply pointed on sugar maples, less so on red maples. Red maple buds get redder as the winter progresses. Get to know a few big old sugar maples during sugaring season, and you will soon recognize the color of bark and the overall shape. Red maples tend to have branches that spread less than sugar maples, and they can live in wet places (but sugar maples rarely do).
White ash (Fraxinus americanus) also has opposite buds, but they are much more rounded than those on maples. The key characteristic for me is the bark, which is furrowed into diamond shaped areas on mature trees. You will also see that small branches on an ash are also much less delicate than those on a maple. Looking up at branches, you will see that they have lots of lumps and bumps near their tips.
White Birch
White or paper birch (Betula papyrifera) is one of the best known of our native trees: it has bright, white bark that tends to peel as the tree gets bigger. Other birches include gray and yellow birches. The former has dirty gray bark; the latter has finely peeling silvery or golden bark. All have horizontal marks on the bark called lenticels. Lenticels allow air into the inner growing layer of the tree. Their twigs are fine, and may have catkins (narrow pollen-producing structures 2 inches long or so) towards the top of the tree.
One of our most common trees is the poplar (Populus deltoides). Poplars are fast growing, short-lived trees that jump up anywhere, even in poor soil along roadsides. They tolerate wet or dry locations and are immune to road salt. I recognize them from the color of the bark – it is greenish to putty-colored, particularly up high. It is often an irregular-shaped tree that is considerably taller than wide.
So clip this article and take a walk in the woods. See what you can identify. And bring along a tree I.D. book to help. I like A Guide to Nature in Winter by Donald Stokes, as it has information about everything you can see outdoors in winter, not just the trees.
Henry is the author of four books and writes a self-syndicated weekly column for 12 newspapers throughout New England. You can contact Henry by e-mail at henry.homeyer@comcast.net.
Oak Leaf
Hemlock