Aralia spinosa: The Devil's Walking Stick, a dangerous but colorful North American native

The thorns arising from the woody trunks and stems 

give this small tree its name.

Aralia spinosa, aka The Devil's Walking Stick or Hercules Club, is our #treetuesday woody plant of the week.  In the ginseng (Aralia) family it is native to eastern North America. It's been many years since I've seen a stand of them, but found these in a much cutover slope near Charlottesville, Va. 

Small white flowers develop into these showy maroon berries

 in the autumn 

The tri-pinnately compound leaves are another distinguishing 

characteristic of this handsome but straggly tree.

Ginkgo biloba: an ancient and beautiful tree

#tree tuesday

Ginkgo biloba, commonly called the gingko  or the maidenhair tree, is an ancient and unique species with no living relatives. Often called a living fossil, the gingko is similar to fossils dating back 270 million years. It is native to China, was introduced early to human history and cultivation. It has various uses in traditional medicine, and its fruit is a source of food in Asian cooking.  The gingko, preferably the male of this dioecious species, makes a handsome and adaptable urban ornamental.

Autumn Leaves

#Tree Tuesday

First Day of Autumn

In 2014, the autumnal equinox brings the fall season to the Northern Hemisphere on: September 22 at 10:29 P.M. EDT. The days are getting shorter in the Northern Hemisphere. Day and night are approximately equal in length. 

Sun peeking through hickory tree leaves around noon.

 

Gathering up oak and hickory tree leaves using a gasoline-powered blower. 

Franklinia (Franklinia alatamaha) a southern American native that's hard to find

#treetuesday

 The Franklin tree blooms in the Philadelphia area at the end of July into August.  The yellow mass in the center of the flower consists of numerous stamens (male parts).

 Fertilized flowers, but undeveloped fruit, appear in the top of the photo.
The pistil, female portion, is the stick-like portion protruding from the developing fruit.
 Fully developed, but immature, fruit appear in the center of the photo.

The Franklin tree remains small and open or scraggly in stature.  Its mature height is 10-to 20 feet. 

Franklinia (Franklinia alatamaha), the Franklin tree named for Benjamin Franklin, is a native of the southeastern U.S.  Originally found near the Altamaha River valley in Georgia, by John Bartram and his son William, it is now considered extinct in the wild and only known from cultivated trees.  This small tree is hardy in USDA zones 5 to 8.  This photographed tree is a youngster and grows in a slightly shaded spot near a college campus in suburban Philadelphia.

Short List of Tree Huggers Favorite Books

Here are some of my favorite #books about trees. Some are very sophisticated; some simple. Some contain a lot of great pictures (almost like a picture book for adults); others feature line drawings. Some are very expensive; some not so much.

I do guarantee that I either own a book on this list or that I’ve borrowed it from my local library or inter-library loan because it’s beyond my budget. I’d like to hear back from you after you’d had a chance to look over this list. Tell me what you liked about the list or how I can make it better. Let me if you feel inspired to examine any of these books.

I’ll be doing one for children at a later date.

• Maples for Gardens: A Color Encyclopedia. Hardcover – August 1, 1999. C.J. van Gelderen (Author), D.M. van Gelderen (Author). Timber Press, Incorporated. ISBN-10: 0881924725; ISBN-13: 978-0881924725.

• Trees of New Zealand: Stories of Beauty and Character. Hardcover – January 1, 2011. y Peter Janssen  (Author).  Hodder Moa. ISBN-10: 1869712196; ISBN-13: 978-1869712198.

• Pirone's Tree Maintenance. Hardcover – April 6, 2000. John R. Hartman (Author), Thomas P. Pirone (Author), Mary Ann Sall (Author). ISBN-13: 978-0195119916; ISBN-10: 0195119916. Edition: 7th

• Bark: A Field Guide to Trees of the Northeast. Paperback – April 12, 2011. Michael Wojtech  (Author), Tom Wessels (Contributor).  UPNE. ISBN-10: 1584658525; ISBN-13: 978-1584658528.

• Drawing and Painting Trees (Dover Art Instruction) Paperback – September 25, 2008.  Adrian Hill (Author).  Dover Publications. ISBN-10: 0486468453; ISBN-13: 978-0486468457.

• Dirr's Encyclopedia of Trees and Shrubs Hardcover – October 18, 2011. Michael A. Dirr (Author). Timber Press. ISBN-10: 0881929018; ISBN-13: 978-0881929010.

• The Plant Hunters: True Stories of Their Daring Adventures to the Far Corners of the Earth. Hardcover – April 10, 2012. Anita Silvey  (Author).  Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR). ISBN-10: 0374309086; ISBN-13: 978-0374309084.  (for adults as well as middle-school students)

• Hydrangeas for American Gardens. Hardcover – Illustrated, June 15, 2004. Michael A. Dirr  (Author).  Timber Press. ISBN-10: 0881926418; ISBN-13: 978-0881926415. Edition: 1st.

• A Reunion of Trees: Exotic Plants and Their Introduction into North American and European Landscapes.  Hardcover – December 1, 1990.  Stephen Spongberg (Author), Sam Bass Warner Jr. (Contributor).Harvard University Press. ISBN-10: 0674766938;  ISBN-13: 978-0674766938. Edition: 1st. 

Slow Death of a Fine Tree

Tree Tuesday

You are in so much of a hurry with so many things to do that you unknowingly sacrifice the life of a fine ornamental tree by leaving fairy lights in place in-between seasons. 

The result of leaving any kind of band around a tree in-perpetuity is slow death by strangling.  Tree people term this "girdling" and the villain slowly works its way through bark - composed of cork cambium, phloem (food conduction tubes), cambium (cells for lateral growth) and sometimes going into the xylem  (water conduction tubes).  Eventually the part of the tree above the girdle dies.  Eventually the whole tree dies.

Spring Color, Form and Texture Add to Landscape

Spruce, Weeping Willow, Cherries and Bradford Pear

 with a Freshwater Pond in Background

 Contribute to a Serene View

English Ivy and Assorted Evergreen Shrubs 

Provide a Multihued Backdrop.

 A bed of white daffodils with a single yellow one and a pink crabapple in bud draw viewers into this landscape.  Local natural boulders provide comfortable seating placed throughout a singular connected path constructed of earth-toned pea gravel.