More Winter Trees

Since it is still a little early to start creating the beds for the vegetable garden I've had time to take a closer look at some of the trees out back.  With the leaf buds beginning to swell there is enough information on the twigs to do some identification.  Our new property is blessed with a number of hickory trees.  In my last post I showed a photo of the terminal bud of a Mockernut Hickory (Carya alba).  This past week I found that there were at least two other species of hickories.

The Pignut has smaller leaf scars than the Mockernut.

The first one I noticed had a much more ovate terminal bud than the Mockernut Hickory, and the leaf scars were more like a rounded off equilateral triangle.  Again, I turned to Trees of New York State for help in narrowing down the choices.  Based on the detailed descriptions in the text I feel pretty confident that this one is a Pignut Hickory, Carya glabra.

Not far from the Pignut was another type of hickory.  The leaf scars on this one were triangular with raised edges.  What stands out is the bright yellow buds and the orangy color of the year old twigs.  This one was easy to find in the key since only Bitternut Hickory, Carya cordiformis, has the yellow leaf buds.

Yellow leaf buds and the raised leaf scars indicate that this is a Bitternut Hickory

As I was taking these photos I noticed some branches where the leaf buds were opposite on another on the twig, rather than on alternate sides moving along the twig.  There are only 6 genera of native trees with this opposite branching:  Maples, Ash, Catalpa, Buckeye, Dogwood and Viburnum.  When I see this opposite branching pattern I usually think of maples, but the terminal leaf buds on this branch were not as pronounced as on maples.  To help with this ID challenge I turned to The Tree Identification Book, by George Symonds.  A quick review of the twig photos brought me to this being some type of Ash tree.  I'm pretty sure that this is a White Ash, Fraxinus americana.  I settled on that because the twigs were smooth and not fuzzy (F. pensylvanica); and the leaf scars are concave at the top rather than straight across (F. nigra).

White Ash has smooth, hairless twigs, a blunt terminal bud and the leaf scars are concave at the top (arrow).

 An easy tree to identify in the field is the American Beech, Fagus grandifolia.  In this photo you can see the elongated leaf buds.  Other indicators over the winter are the persistent dried leaves and the smooth gray bark.

Leaf buds of the American Beech 'stick out'.

Looking down at the ground level I had been perplexed by a small leafy plant that was just sprouting up last fall.  I was unfamiliar with it and just assumed that it was badly confused by the warm weather.  As I was deciding on plants to order for this spring I came across a description of a spring ephemeral that matched up with this little plant.  This appears to be Toothwort, Dentaria diphylla.  I will need to keep an eye out for the little 4-petaled white flowers this spring.  I only found one patch, but I hope I have some others.

Toothwort, a spring ephemeral is a member of the Mustard (Brassicacae) Family.

While walking back to the house I noticed a lot of little white flowers blooming in the lawn.  Many aspects of this plant were familiar, but I could not put a name to it.  I ended up digging one up for closer examination with a hand lens.  The flowers had 4 petals so I immediately thought of the mustard family.  I ended up using Gleason and Conquist to key it out as Cardamine hirsuta, Hairy Bittercress.  This is an Old World plant that is now found in 2/3 of the US.  It is a winter annual that germinates in the fall and overwinters as a rosette.  It blooms from early spring and through the summer.  While edible, the leaves on mine are very small, so it would take a lot if picking to make a salad.

Hairy Bittercress has tiny hairs on the leaves and petioles visible with a hand lens.

Early Spring???

This winter has been schizophrenic.  Bouts of snow followed by brief warm-ups.  Last Tuesday, January 29th, it was well over 60 degrees here in Washington County, MD.  We have had Snow Drops, Galanthus nevalis, blooming since Christmas day but I had seen no signs of pollinators.  That is until the 29th when the little flowers were being swarmed by honey bees.

How many bees do you see here?  I counted 6.

Can someone ID these bees for me?

I assume these are European Honey bees from a local hive, but to be honest I don't know that much about bee ID.  I was surprised to see so many bees out this time of year.  I only hope they have someplace warm to return to as the temperatures dipped back below freezing two days later.

"Buds naked, rusty-brown-tomentose; bundle scars 5-7"

While I was out photographing the Snow Drops I decided to see if there were any other early signs of spring.  Walking through the woods I found no early blooms, but I did see some swelling leaf buds.  I noticed that the terminal buds of the PawPaw Trees, Asimina triloba, were getting pliable.  While I remembered their location from the fall, I just wanted to double check the ID using a plant manual.  I needed to do the ID based on the twigs and bark.  On Google Books I found a very nice resource for identifying trees in the Northeast US: Trees of New York State .  It has several identification keys based on leaves, flowers and fruits, as well as one that focuses on the appearance of twigs and leaf scars.  There are also detailed descriptions of each of the tree species.  The description in the key confirmed that this was one of the PawPaw trees.

This image close-up shows the 5 bundle
scars where a leaf had been attached.

Looking at things like bundle scars can be very useful in identifying trees, especially in winter when there not much else to go on.  The bundle scars are left over from where the vascular bundles of the twig and leaf meet.

Encouraged by my success with the PawPaw I found another tree with distinctive leaf and bundle scars.  On this tree the leaf scars were large and 3-lobed, almost like a stylized human skull.  The bundle scars were clustered in arcs, one cluster in each lobe.  Using the key I was able to narrow it down to a Hickory (Carya) of some sort.  I needed to go to the detailed descriptions and accompanying botanical drawings to finally settle on Mockernut Hickory, Carya alba (formerly C. tomentosa).

"Twigs very stout pale lenticellate pubescent reddish brown turning gray the second season.
Leaf scars inversely 3 lobed, the bundle scars in marginal clusters.
Terminal bud reddish brown or yellowish usually tomentose 1/3 to 3/4 of an inch long."  [from "Trees of New York"] 

There are plenty more trees to identify in the woods here, so I should put on my boots and get out there to see what I can learn before the leaves start popping out.

Starting a New Vegetable Garden

When we moved into our home in Watertown, MA starting a garden was easy.  The previous owner had established raised beds in a sunny opening in the back and along the south-side of the house.  The beds were small, but the soil was great.  Over the next 17 years the sunny spot in the back became only partly sunny (maybe 4-6 hours of full sun) due to the trees growing up and out.  Now with our new property in Maryland we are starting with a clean slate.  There are no established kitchen garden beds, so we need to determine which space works the best for us.

In selecting the site for the garden we considered accessibility to the garden, water, exposure, soil quality and protection from wildlife.  I consider solar exposure and soil quality as the most important factors; those are the most difficult to change.  All the convenient locations near the kitchen have less than optimal solar exposure.  A location off the garage offers better protection from wildlife, but it impinges on the septic field and is surrounded by trees (too much shade).

Garden site looking to the NNW.  Parts of the electric fence can be seen

The site I am considering with now is fairly open, with evergreens to the north and only a couple of trees nearby.  It has an open south-east aspect (the topography tilts to the SE), so it should warm-up quickly in the mornings and have good light throughout the day.  There is a water faucet nearby and the previous owners had installed an electric fence around the area, so we have the beginnings of an enclosure to keep the deer out.  I just need to take some soil samples for analysis to learn about any problems with the soil chemistry (crazy pH or nutrient deficiencies).

In addition to a deer fence I will surround the immediate area of the garden with a low mesh fence dug 6" into the ground to discourage the rabbits and ground hogs.  I have ordered a quantity of False Pennyroyal seeds (Hedeoma pulegioides) to plant on the perimeter.  The strongly aromatic scent is reported to repel many animals; we'll see just how effective it is.  Some other deer resistant plants planned for the perimeter are: Aquilegia canadensis, Asclepias tuberosa, Monarda fistulosa and Rudbeckia hirta.  These plants should also help in attracting pollinators.

Since I am planting a garden from scratch, I spent a little time reading about companion planting in order to make some better decisions about which plants will benefit from interplanting in the same part of the bed.  Two books that I found useful for this are "Companion Planting," by Bob Flowerdew and "Little House in the Suburbs," by Deanna Caswell and Daisy Siskin.  I can not speak about the benefits of companion planting yet, but these books did offer some explanation for some of my past vegetable garden failures such as Kohlrabi with Pole Beans and Snap Peas with Tomatoes.

Since I am interested in growing Native Edibles as well as 'regular' vegetables, I have ordered some tubers of Jerusalem Artichoke, Helianthus tuberosa, known as a Sunchoke in culinary circles.  These can get out of control on their own, so we will need to harvest the tubers annually to keep them in check.

I have also ordered some tubers of Groundnut, Apios americana.  They can be used like potatoes, but have a nutty flavor.  These sprawling vines may find their home along the shady woodland edge, rather than the center of the garden, for both cultural as well as aesthetic reasons.

To prepare the planting beds I will be using techniques described in Lee Reich's book "Weedless Gardening."  This is a top down method where the existing plants are cut to the ground then covered with multiple layers of paper.  NO DIGGING!  After wetting the paper it is covered with several inches of weed-free material.  In my case this will be soil that I will plant seed directly into.  For the garden paths I will use cardboard cover with wood mulch as a more resistant barrier layer.  The existing plants are smothered and since the soil was not turned over no new weeds from the seed bank are brought to the surface.  I will refer you to this easy reading book to get the details.

I've seen this technique work successfully for converting lawns to ground cover beds.  This will be the first time I've tried it over a more robust planting.  Since we still have loads of paper and cardboard left over from our move this is a perfect way to use existing resources.  The only materials I will need to bring on site are a couple of yards of planting soil and some organic fertilizer.  The best part of this method is that I will not need to turn over a large mass of the soil, only to be followed by a long season of weeding.

I will update this information as the garden installation moves along.

Merry Christmas from Adams Garden

It's Christmas Eve 2012 and we are getting our first snow of the season here in Knoxville, MD.  This is a great treat for family visiting from Texas.  I don't know if it will last, but it sure is pretty right now!

Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year to all!

Making Progress, Inch by Inch

As the leaves are falling and the undergrowth is dying back I am able to get a better idea of what is actually growing on my new property.  My goal is to (re)establish a population of native plant species that is consistent with this geographical area (Mid-Atlantic Piedmont).  The first step is to learn what is already present.  That is becoming more difficult as the leaves and flowers of most to the plants are now gone.  I am moving ahead with step two, removing those invasive species that I had already identified.

Ailanthus trees are fast growing, these ca. 10 year old trees were about 25 ft tall.

My most recent targets are the Tree Of Heaven, Ailanthus altissima, that are scattered along the edges of the woodlands.  Spring to early summer are better times to cut this tree down, after the tree has used up much of its stored energy putting out new growth.  However, now that the undergrowth is thinning, I have better access to the trunks to cut them out.  I will need to follow up with cutting and/or treating the new growth in the spring.  The Virginia Department of Forestry has a detailed bulletin on Control and Uses of Tree-of-Heaven. From this I learned that Ailanthus makes decent firewood, so rather than throwing them in the brush pile, I'm stacking up the pieces for use in the fireplace next season (Ailanthus has a high moisture content and needs seasoning to burn well).

Ailanthus wood, when properly dried, can be for building furniture,
but burning it as firewood will be more satisfying

Other species currently on my removal list are the Multiflora Rose, Winged Euonymus and Oriental Bittersweet.  I will thin the thickets now to make them more accessible so that I can cut-and-treat the main stems in the best season (late summer for the Rose and Euonymus, and nearly anytime for the Bittersweet, as long as the ground isn't frozen).

Sycamores along Israel Creek.  

While I was clearing the trees I realized just how beautiful the bare trees can be.  The the native Sycamores, Platanus occidentalis, have strikingly white branches against the brown backdrop of the woodlands. The white bark of these trees made be think of Paper Birches, more common in the northern forests; although the Sycamores have a very different branching form.  I have also begun to appreciate the forms of the other trees, especially when the sun is low and they are silhouetted in the dim light.

Beautiful color at sunrise on a partly cloudy morning...

...but ground fog creates a more dramatic effect.

I was very surprized to find a few blooms on a Coral Honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens.  These vines are everywhere, but this one close to the house is the only one in bloom right now.  Since we didn't move in until late September, we missed the peak blooming of these vines earlier in the summer.  I'm looking forward to seeing how many of these vines put out blooms.

For the rest of the winter my main chore will be to continue cutting back the thickets of invasive shrubs as I make out my shopping list for native shrubs to replace them in the spring.

Getting Aquainted

View upstream toward Harper's Ferry, WV a few days before Hurricane Sandy.

We've been in the new house for a little over a month now and we are starting to get into a new rhythm.  We are about a mile from the Potomac River, near Harper's Ferry.  As the leaves are falling it is easier to see the landscape features on the grounds and also identify some of the plants that were previously inaccessible through the brush.

The woolly leaves of Sweet Everlasting are similar
to those of Pearly Everlasting (see below). 

As I was tramping through the less explored areas, one familiar plant that stood out for me was the annual, Sweet Everlasting, Pseudognaphalium obtussifolium.  This can be distinguished by its nearly pure white flowers, compared to the yellow-centered flowers of the similar looking Pearly Everlasting.

The flowers of Pearly Everlasting have yellow centers.

The reddish-brown stipe of Ebony Spleenwort
is not as rigid as those of Christmas Fern.

As I made my way into the ravine at the back of the property I saw some familiar Christmas Ferns growing in the shade.  I turned around and saw another similar looking fern that turned out to be Ebony Spleenwort, Asplenium platyneuron.  These are both 'once-cut' ferns with boot-shaped leaves (pinnae), but the spleenwort has a reddish brown stem (stipe) and is generally more delicate in appearance.

One of the projects I have in mind is to 'develop' a portion of the property as a meadow area.   I was planning on covering the area with cardboard (a material I have an ample supply of after unpacking) to kill off the existing lawn.  However, a good portion of this area has been going wild for a couple of years and, on closer examination, I have found many of the desired grasses already present.  Now I think I will take a different approach, rather than starting with a clean slate, I will augment the existing native species and edit out the invasives.  This will be a tedious job, but  it would be a shame to remove the indigenous gene pool and replace them with the same species from some other ecoregion.  Currently in this meadow to be there are a lot of Multiflora Rose.  There also appear to be some other rose species.  I will need to wait for some fresh growth to make a determination of which rose is which.  

Multiflora Rose can be identified by the comb-like stipules.
Most native roses less complex stipules.

Anyone familiar with this plant?

There are a number of wildflowers growing in this area.  One that was still in bloom in October is what I believe to be a species of Helianthus.  I would appreciate any thoughts as to which species this is.  Since there was only one plant in bloom, I did not want to generalize too much based on one (partial) flower.  I'm leaning toward Jerusalem Artichoke, H. tuberosus, but there are so many other possibilities.

Some of the native grasses that are well represented in this meadow area are Little Bluestem, Switch Grass, and Deer Tongue Grass.  In the deciduous woods there are many clumps of Spreading Sedge, Carex laxiculmis.

Little Bluestem comes into its glory in the fall
when the seedheads glow in the low sunlight

Deer Tongue Grass stands out among the other grasses in the sunny meadow with its relatively short, broad blades.  The plume-like seed heads are lost early in the season.  

Clumps of Spreading Sedge are scattered
through the moist deciduous woodlands.

Fall projects include clearing out some of the fallen trees and thinning the River Grape vines and other overgrown shrubs from around the trees.

Late Summer Round-up

Wildflower border in early September.

As summer is winding down for us, it is still going strong for the summer and fall-blooming wildflowers.  In this border on the south side of the house the flowers are sharing space with a few varieties of tomatoes.  Notable here is the Brown-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia triloba.  This plant is also growing in part sun, in dryish soils (I have some doing well near a Norway Maple, but it gets 3-4 hours of sun), but fades out early in deep shade.  Also in this border is the annual Crowned Beggarticks, Bidens coronata.  These are of a more manageable size, and bloom earlier, than the Bearded Beggarticks, B. aristosa, that I have grown in the past.


One plant that is expanding its presence in the border is Texas Sage, Salvia coccinea.  This southeastern native annual has managed to overwinter in the warmer locations here in my northeastern garden and in the pots where I have reused the soil.  The original planting was done 3 years ago, but that doesn't mean that a really cold winter will finish them off.

The bees access the nectar at the base of the flower

The Smooth Asters, Symphiotrichum laeve, have been blooming for about a week.  I don't usually see them blooming with the Black-eyed Susan's, since they usually get dried out here in late August.  I started out with only a couple of these asters, but now they a showing up all around the garden.  Another plant that has adapted well to this residential site is Wild Petunia, Ruellia humilis.  The tiny seeds of these plants are finding their way into pavement cracks and then growing with some success.  They bloom all summer.  I didn't take a photo because they are looking kind of ratty now as they are going to seed.


One new plant I started this year was Giant Blue Hyssop, Agastache foeniculum.  The natural range for this mid-west native does not extend to Massachusetts.  The indigenous Agastache is the Purple Giant Hyssop, A. scrophulariifolia, and it grows to over 6' tall.  Since I wanted to grow this in a small residential setting I opted for the smaller sized species.  I was happy to see that, despite its youth, it has started to bloom.

This new Agastache is attacting bees already;
however, the nearby Beeblossum gets little traffic.

I have been growing Meadowsweet, Spiraea latifolia (actually Spiraea alba var. latifolia) around the house for over 5 years.  It is long blooming and very attractive to the native bees.  The down side is that it gets very rangy and tends to flop over onto other plantings.  This year, after the first big flush of flowers was spent at the end of June, I pruned a plant back by about half.  Now in September it is blooming again and has a more contained shape.

Probably the best place for this plant is in a hedgerow or a naturalistic planting; however, with some attentive maintenance it can work in an informal residential design.