Wild redbuds and dogwoods

Cercis canadensis and Cornus florida

The redbuds and dogwoods are blooming right now (mid-April) in south-central Kentucky. At this time of the year, I love driving the rural backroads of Christian County and seeing the wild redbuds and dogwoods blooming in the woods.

I don't see much difference between the wild redbuds in the woods and the redbuds in towns, even though many of the hand-planted redbuds are probably cultivars. However, I do notice that most wild dogwoods have smaller, greener blossoms than the hand-planted dogwoods growing on lawns. The blossom size is bigger and the color is whiter in the cultivars.

Our trees in this part of Kentucky had a very hard winter. Many of them suffered a great deal of damage in the massive ice storm that hit this area. You can see broken limbs and a fallen tree in the foreground of the photo below.

However, the trees are responding to spring. They have wounds to heal and their injuries may shorten their lives, but they are blooming and beginning to leaf. Those are dogwoods blooming, on the opposite side of the pond.

Tree Damage in the Late Freeze

Trees across the nation have suffered damage during the recent cold snap.

Unseasonably warm temperatures in March and a severe cold snap over the Easter weekend froze the young leaves and flowers on many trees and shrubs across the U.S.

In my own yard, the lilacs and privets seem to be all right, but the ashes and maples have been hit hard. Their leaves and blossoms are hanging like limp black rags on the branches.

There's not much to do but wait. Shrubs and trees that were in bloom won't flower again, but they should recover and produce leaves within the next month. Similarly, shrubs and trees whose tender new leaves were frozen will put out a new set of leaves after they realize what happened and adapt.

Most of the dead leaves will drop off by themselves as new growth starts. Pruning away dead growth would be risky because it would be so easy to inadvertently damage the area that will produce new growth.

Take a look at these news articles for some comments more expert than mine about freeze-damaged trees:

• Time is best response for freeze-damaged plants: Dealing with the aftermath of the hard freeze on landscape plants - Johnson County, Missouri Extension column
  
• Freeze causes devastating loss - The Northeast Georgian
  
• Freeze Causes Damage to Early-Blooming Plants, Trees - The Times Union (Warsaw and Kosciusko Counties, Indiana)
  
• Spring Freeze: What to Do With Injured Plants - 14 WFIE Tri-State (Evansville, Indiana)
• Healthy trees store energy and therefore will be able to survive a late spring freeze - The Birmingham (AL) News
  

Another helpful document:

• Effects of Cold Weather on Horticultural Plants in Indiana, a publication of Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service.

As always, for good answers that are specific to your particular area, it's best to call your local Extension Service. You'll probably find the Extension Service listed among the state agencies in your telephone book.

Dogwood thoughts for Easter

Dogwood symbolism

Almost exactly one year ago, an F3 tornado swept across Christian County, Kentucky. It did a tremendous amount of damage to property and trees and created untold stress, misery and heartache, but miraculously, no lives were lost and we are thankful for that.

The dogwood in the photo at right is blooming in the midst of an area of tornado damage. It seems symbolic. Hope and life is triumphing over tragedy and ruin. It's a fitting message for the Easter season.

Someone was inspired by the beauty of dogwood blossoms to create the following "legend" in a little poem, imparting an Easter meaning to the blossoms. There's probably not even a shred of truth to it (do any trees of the cornus family grow in the Mideast?) but it's a nice story.

In Jesus' time, the dogwood grew

To a stately size and a lovely hue.
'Twas strong and firm, its branches interwoven;
For the cross of Christ its timbers were chosen.

Seeing the distress at this use of their wood,
Christ made a promise which still holds good:
"Never again shall the dogwood grow
Large enough to be used so.

Slender and twisted, it shall be,
With blossoms like the cross for all to see.
Blood stains, the petals marked in brown,
The blossom's center wears a thorny crown.

All who see it will remember me,
Crucified on a cross from the dogwood tree.
Cherished and protected this tree shall be
A reminder to all of my agony."

Author unknown

Tips for Buying a Tree

Advice about how to choose a tree

It's that time of the year again when trees are available at grocery stores and discount centers. There's nothing wrong with buying one of these trees, but choose carefully.

Have in mind what kind of tree you want. You don't want to plant a problem. Think about the water and soil needs of the tree, its susceptibility to weather damage and disease, and its wildlife value, as well as its mature size and its branching and rooting patterns.

Be ready to get your tree as soon as the store receives its tree shipment. Typically, trees at a store will not receive as good of ongoing care as a nursery or garden center tree will have. By buying the tree soon after it arrives, you can spare it some stress. You'll also have a better selection to choose from.

Be sure that the branch tips are still green and alive, not dry and brittle. Check the rootball -- has the soil dried out and shrunk away from the sides of the pot? If so, the fine hairs of the roots are probably damaged.

Trees with leaf buds will probably withstand transplanting better than trees that have leafed out. Always avoid trees that have leafed out already if local trees are still in bud stage -- the foliage might suffer frost damage if you get a sudden cold spell!

Look for a stocky, strong tree that has a single, straight central trunk . Branches should be well-distributed around all sides of the trunk, not clumped to one side. The tree should have wide angles where the branches join the trunk. Avoid trees that have branches attached at 30° angles or less because these weak branch crotches may split in bad weather.

The roots should not be coming out the bottom of the pot. If they are, that's a pretty good sign that the roots don't have enough room and are probably growing in circles inside the pot

Finally, be ready to plant the tree the same day that you buy it -- and know how to plant it correctly.

As always, the Extension Service is a great source of information -- call them and ask for advice about any detail of buying and planting a tree! Your electric company and telephone company have guidelines about the location of tall trees, as well.

Missouri State University recently issued a press release with advice about buying trees. It is brief, but has some good suggestions.

Beautiful blossoms of the wild plum

Prunus americana

Wild plum blossoms

The wild plums are blooming now and their fragrance is wonderful. I enjoy walking through the part of the yard where they grow and experiencing their blossoms with several of my senses.

Wild plum blossoms always remind me of my childhood on a ranch in Rock County, Nebraska. , Wild plums grew in the shelter belt north of our house. We came through that "tree-pen" (as we called it) often as we walked home from school, and when the wild plums were in bloom, we brought my mother a bouquet of plum blossoms.

My mother didn't mind our massacre of those little plum trees because she never picked plums there anyway. The plums in the shelter belt had very sour yellow fruit. We all greatly preferred the wild plums from our pastures in northern Loup County -- sweet red plums.

Tonight after the sun was completely down, I went out to the plums in our yard for a few minutes to see what their blossoms are like after dark. (I know this may seem odd, but I'll explain shortly.) The fragrance is just as sweet with a bit of night dew on the petals . There wasn't much natural light on the plums due to cloud cover and the new moon, but they were illuminated a little from the distant yard light. The white blossoms were the only part of the little trees that were visible. One might imagine they were floating in the air.

Why was I curious about their appearance at night? This 1923 poem, by Oreck Johns:

Wild Plum

THEY are unholy who are born
To love wild plum at night,
Who once have passed it on a road
Glimmering and white.

It is as though the darkness had
Speech of silver words,
Or as though a cloud of stars
Perched like ghostly birds.

They are unpitied from their birth
And homeless in men's sight,
Who love, better than the earth,
Wild plum at night.

By Orrick Johns. Published in The New Poetry: An Anthology of Twentieth Century Verse in English. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1923. The MacMillan Company, New York, 1923.

Related post: Bud and twig of American wild plum

Spring in the Woods

March in Christian County, KY

Red Blossoms of Silver Maple

Acer saccharinum, water maple, soft maple

Flower of silver maple

Silver maple is one of the first trees to bloom in springtime. Its bright red blossoms are small, but they are a welcome spark of color in the landscape.

The flower buds and flowers of the silver maple are eaten by squirrels in early spring when food is scarce.

Silver maple blossoms

The silver maple's seeds are the largest of all the maple seeds, and are an important food source for squirrels as well as a large number of songbirds, gamebirds, and wild animals . Even bears, deer, elk, moose, and mountain sheep will feast on silver maple seeds. The seeds appear in spring at about the same time the leaves do.

In nature, the silver maple often chooses to grow in moist bottom lands or at the edges of rivers and lakes. In Kentucky it may be found growing with willows, sycamores, hackberries, cottonwoods and river birch.

The silver maple in the photo below is growing near Kentucky Lake in western Kentucky. In this location, the tree probably stands in water occasionally, but the silver maple can survive some flooding.

Silver maples are often sold in garden centers as a fast-growing shade tree. They are prone to storm damage because of their weak, brittle branches, and they are a short-lived tree that will mature at 50 to 75 years and slip into decline soon thereafter. The silver maple is well-known for clogging drains with its water-seeking roots.

Think carefully about where you want to plant this tree! We have three silver maples near our house, planted by a former owner. We've seen some severe storm damage in them several times. Fortunately -- so far! -- none of the large limbs have hit the house.

One of the trees is very large and probably at full maturity. When its health begins to decline (which will be soon,) we will be forced to remove it because of its proximity to the house.

Silver maple flowering at Kentucky Lake, near Fenton