Roll Gardening & Green
Trees: Why not plant one this Spring?
by Luanne Panarotti

“The trees in the streets are old trees used to living with people, family trees that remember your grandfather’s name.” —Stephen Vincent Benet

Trees are so ubiquitous in our Hudson Valley landscape, we often fail to really notice them. But plant a tree in your own backyard and suddenly, there’s a relationship. You begin to mark the passage of time by its seasonal changes and annual growth, your own personal history reflected in its gradual development. You provide it with space and some modest resources and it offers back structure, beauty, maybe even sustenance, leaf piles in which to jump and a place to hang a swing. You imagine the future generations that might climb its branches or daydream away the afternoon in its dappled shade.

Trees are also indispensable allies in our environmental efforts. Large scale reforestation is an essential element in counteracting global warming and species loss; but even the planting of a single tree or a small grouping of trees can have a significant local impact. In addition to sequestering carbon and releasing oxygen as part of the photosynthesis process, properly sited trees reduce energy consumption – and bills – by shading your home in summer and providing a windbreak in winter; minimize erosion and pollution runoff into streams, allowing for more recharging of the groundwater supply; and provide food and habitat for songbirds and other wildlife.

Beauty, emotional connection, environmental benefit and increased property value, to boot: planting a tree is a horticultural no-brainer. Choosing the right tree for the right place is not. First, make your wish list. What are you hoping to accomplish with your planting? Do you wish to create greater privacy, a shady retreat? Are you hungry for color, fragrance or edible fruit? Next, decide where you want to place your tree(s) and consider the conditions there, jotting down everything you observe about the amount of sunlight, soil type, moisture and so on. Armed with this information, you can then visit a reputable nursery or garden center and begin exploring. Here is a sampling of the myriad choices.

Fences make good neighbors…
But living screens offer both privacy and beauty. Consider members of the spruce family, Picea glauca (white spruce) or Picea pungens (Colorado blue spruce). The medium-sized conifers are beautifully upright and neat of habit, and can live up to 300 years. Hardy and deer-resistant, spruces also offer cover and food for birds. The evergreen foliage of the species provides a backdrop against which other shrubs and perennials really “pop”.

Shady investments
The USDA Forest Service estimates that trees properly placed around buildings can reduce air conditioning needs by 30 percent. A single Red Maple (Acer rubrum) located at the south corner of your home will mature to shade and cool your home in summer, while allowing sunlight through its lovely “bones” in winter. A grouping of sugar maples (Acer saccharum) will add bold visual interest to your property, with the future potential of tapping the trees for their sugary sap. The long-lived white oak, Quercus alba, provides outstanding shade for the backyard, but should be situated away from buildings to allow it to reach its full, majestic size. Its yellow-green catkins give way to acorns, and deeply-lobed leaves mellow to a rich, burnished burgundy in the fall.

A Flowery Display
With so many species in the genus, there is a dogwood perfect for just about any landscape. All offer a flowery spring display, colorful fruit beloved by birds and splendid fall hues. Cornus florida, the native flowering dogwood, has creamy white blooms that float along slender, graceful boughs. The bright yellow flowers of Cornus mas (Cornelian Cherry) line its bare branches in March, a welcome relief from the dull palette of winter.

Delights for all the senses
Trees offer more than just visual delight, with traits that engage all the senses. Are you a more tactile person? Then choose a tree with touchable bark, such as Striped maple, Acer pennsylvanicum, with white vertical fissures against a greenish background, or Parrotia persica (Persian Parrotia), with textural “camo” bark that exfoliates to reveal shades of cream, green gray and brown. If it’s music that soothes your soul, consider the Quaking Aspen, Populus tremuloides. Its leaves balance delicately on flat petioles, trembling with the slightest breeze to create a soft, fluttery rustle. Or how about some backyard aromatherapy? The pristine white flowers of Styrax obassia (Fragrant Snowbell) fill the spring air with a heady perfume, while the senescing leaves of the Katsura, Cercidiphyllum japonicum, give off a delectable aroma reminiscent of cooked sugar.

Fruitful Planting
Hungry now? The lovely native Serviceberries (Amelanchier spp.) offer plentiful airy white flowers followed by edible fruit; the purple-black berries are reminiscent of Highbush Blueberries, and are excellent in jams and pies (if you can beat the birds to them!). Fall foliage ranging from apricot to deep red and smooth, grey streaked bark round out the annual display of this beautiful landscape tree. The Pawpaw, Asimina triloba, is a more unusual native; its large droopy leaves add a relaxed note to the landscape, and its edible waxy fruit has a banana-like flavor with other tropical notes.

Arbor Day is on April 25th. Why not celebrate by planting a tree in your yard? The poet Alexander Smith once wrote “A man does not plant a tree for himself, he plants it for posterity.” By choosing the right specimen for your home landscape, you can do both.