#Native Trees

[summerwages]

oozing life...

heavy cone set = tough winter

[riverwindphotography]

Green Alder, (Alnus alnobetula) with new cones, heads into Autumn

(c) riverwindphotography, September 2023

[headspace-hotel]

Things of dire importance about Outside in no particular order:

butterflies and many other beneficial insects spend the winter hibernating in fallen leaves. Please try to avoid shredding them, burning them, or God forbid, sending them to a landfill.

fallen leaves make amazing mulch and compost and getting rid of them is Incredible Folly

it is fine and normal for your plants' leaves to be munched on a little bit by bugs. if you plant a native flower, there's probably a butterfly or moth species whose caterpillars eat it for food. The babies have to eat okay. It's natural! It's good!

mushrooms=good. It is not a problem to have mushrooms in your yard. Most plants are in symbiotic relationships with fungi, that's how they get most of their phosphorous and nitrogen.

At least in the USA, no mushroom will poison you just by touch (barring allergies or some sensitivity like that I guess?). Unless you eat them, mushrooms will not hurt you.

If you happen to have a stream running through or alongside your property, do NOT mow right up to the edge. Plant moisture-loving trees, shrubs and plants to form a buffer zone. This helps stop harmful chemicals and pollutants from going into the water, prevents the stream bank from eroding, helps mitigate the risk of flash flooding, and creates absolutely essential habitat for some of the world's most at-risk creatures.

Trees can usually be planted as close as 6-10 feet apart from each other, but large trees should be kept 25+ feet from structures and septic tanks. Landscapers regularly plant trees WAY too close to structures.

Most butterflies and moths depend on specific plants for food for their caterpillars, hence the importance of native plants.

Many important bees hibernate over the winter in logs and stumps. Logs and stumps are good!

Acorns are ripe when they have fallen to the ground, they are brown and their little hats have popped off. If you rummage around in leaves under oak trees in October or so, you may find acorns that have already begun sprouting. You can put it in a pot and grow a new oak tree. (Sprout side down-that's the root!) It's so easy it feels illegal.

This is not true of some oak species, specifically white oaks (the ones with rounded lobes on their leaves- that's the simplified explanation). Their acorns have to experience a few months of cold before they sprout, so they will sprout in the spring, not fall. (Edit: I got it mixed up, it's red oaks that need cold to sprout and white oaks are the ones that can sprout immediately! Oops)

SO MUCH STUFF is going to seed right around the time that the leaves are falling. You can gather seeds from plenty of wildflowers along basically any weedy path or roadside.

thats all i've got for now

[jazzymini]

𝑻𝒘𝒐 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒔 𝒂𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅…🌿

[warandpeas]

Get Along

Collab with BBC Earth, Rewriting Extinction in association with Moondance Foundation Ever felt… out of place? 🤨 Some trees feel the same way! Let’s plant native trees where they belong, so they can grow up to be strong, carbon-storing forests that work in perfect synergy! 🌳 Learn more about #OurGreenPlanet with BBC Earth and Rewriting Extinction. Watch the animated version by Cut the Mustard here.

[faguscarolinensis]

Sorbus scopulina / Greene's Mountain Ash on the Echo Lake Trail on Mount Blue Sky in Evergreen, CO

[claraameliapond]

Happy International Day of Forests!

May every forest flourish in its unique diversity, providing diverse ecosystems and homes for all wildlife , oxygen for everyone, and sustain all life on earth - and may people, all humans wake up to their inherent worth and value, and protect them - and all native trees everywhere - from being cleared in the arrogance of anthropocentrism.

[oliviarosaline]

Eastern Redbud Tree

Cercis canadensis

This small tree in the legume family showcases lovely pink blooms in spring and is native to much of eastern North America. They grow in a variety of habitats, but prefer well-drained slopes in woods without many other plants to compete with. Its flowers are pollinated by carpenter bees and other bees with long tongues, and the leaves provide food for several caterpillar and moth species. The flowers on this tree are also edible and contain beneficial anthocyanins, a group of antioxidants.

March 19th, 2024

St. Charles County, Missouri, USA

Olivia R. Myers

@oliviarosaline

[kalakian]

Ilan lamang ang mga ito sa magagandang puno sa Pilipinas. Paborito ko siguro rito ang Salingogon at Banaba. Mukha silang Cherry Blossoms at Wisteria.

[farmobileo3]

[persephonaae]

Me when there’s big trees: 🥰

Yes I may live in their native range and I’ve seen them thousands of times but it’s still always strikes me with awe

[summerwages]

picnic in the park..

while the felling of old growth fir may not find favor in retrospect their unique characteristics can still be appreciated..this table is 85 ft 10 in long about 4 in thick and some 36 in wide..one of six sawn from the same log by Hull & Oaks in the mid 80s..

[bonfires-n-hares]

the hazel tree in winter (laurablackwoodart)

[elektroskopik]

How bad are invasive plants for birds? Research suggests large-scale removal may not have intended benefits

In a new study published in the journal Biological Invasions, researchers in Connecticut, U.S. show that some of the most vilified invasive plants in northeastern U.S. forests may actually be of comparable value to native plants as foraging resources for insectivorous birds, and large-scale invasive plant removal on behalf of these birds may not have the intended benefits.

The research team from Great Hollow Nature Preserve and Ecological Research Center (New Fairfield, CT, U.S.) and Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT, U.S.) conducted a large-scale bird-exclusion experiment in which they compared arthropod biomass and bird foraging intensity among four species of non-native, invasive woody plants and six of the most dominant native species in an 800-acre forest preserve in western Connecticut.

They also measured the protein content (percent elemental nitrogen) of the arthropods on these plants as an indicator of food quality since protein strongly mediates food selection by breeding birds and is critical to offspring development. The study involved the collection, identification, and isotopic analysis of more than 17,000 arthropods from the branches of 240 trees and shrubs, half of which were covered with bird-exclusion netting.

[jazzymini]

[faguscarolinensis]

Rhododendron prunifolium / Plumleaf Azalea at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University in Durham, NC