A Field of Young Trees
Our annual tree potting and planting project continues at my Bedford, New York farm.
Trees are very important to our environment - they help combat climate change, provide habitat and food for birds and other animals, and release oxygen for us to live. In fact, in one year, an acre of mature trees can provide enough oxygen for 18-people. Many of the trees I order each spring are bare-root cuttings, which are plants that are removed from the earth while dormant and stored without any soil surrounding their roots. Three years ago, we planted a collection of bare-root stock in a back-field near my growing Christmas trees. Some of them were only two to three feet tall when they arrived, but now they’re more than double in size. I am so happy with how they’ve developed and can’t wait to transplant them in their new and more permanent locations.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Three years ago, we planted this field with hundreds of bare-root cuttings from JLPN, a family owned tree seedling company in Salem, Oregon.
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- When first planted, these specimens were quite small with very thin trunks.
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- Now they’re much taller, with thicker, more sturdy trunks – I am so pleased with how well they’ve grown, but it is time to move them so they have more room to develop.
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- Some of the trees were removed from the ground and placed in large pots. Eventually, they will all be planted in the woodland, or used around the farm for various groves and allees.
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- These trees are Japanese Zelkova, Zelkova serrata, or Japanese elm – a species of flowering plant native to Japan, Korea, eastern China, and Taiwan. It is a graceful vase-shaped shade tree with elliptical, dark green foliage. In autumn, these trees display a mix of yellow, rust, bronze, dark red and purple.
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- The bark of Zelkova has an attractive steel-gray color that exfoliates to expose orange shading beneath.
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- These trees are hardy rubber trees, Eucommia ulmoides – a low-branching tree that typically grows 40-60 feet tall with broad ascending branches and a rounded spreading crown.
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- Here is a closeup of one of the young rubber tree trunks with its developing buds.
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- The rubber tree is typically grown as an ornamental shade tree because of its attractive glossy green foliage. (Photo courtesy of JLPN)
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- I love these white-bark colored quaking aspens, Populus tremuloides. The quaking aspen is a deciduous tree native to cooler areas of North America. It is also commonly called trembling aspen, American aspen, mountain or golden aspen, trembling poplar, or white poplar.
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- Quaking aspen is a tall, fast growing tree with a trunk that can grow up to 30-inches in diameter. The bark is relatively smooth, greenish-white to gray in color, and marked by black horizontal scars and prominent knots.
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- The leaves on mature trees are nearly round with small rounded teeth and long, flattened petioles that “quake” or “tremble” in the breeze. (Photo courtesy of JLPN)
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- Another interesting type of tree bark is that of the American sweetgum, Liquidambar styraciflua, with its light brown color, dark streaks, and scaly ridges.
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- The American sweetgum is recognizable by the combination of its five-pointed star-shaped leaves and its hard, spiked fruits. (Photo courtesy of JLPN)
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- These trees are JLPN’s special select river birch trees, Betula Nigra. These trees grow quickly up to a height of 40 to 60-feet and have a stunning fall yellow color.
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- The river birch tree is deciduous and often grows into multiple trunks with its interesting exfoliating bark.
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- These are American hazelnuts, Corylus americana – a species of deciduous shrub in the genus Corylus, native to the eastern and central United States and extreme southern parts of eastern and central Canada.
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- It blooms in spring producing hanging male catkins and clusters of tiny female flowers.
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- These trees are American yellowwoods, Cladrastis Lutea, a species native to the Southeastern United States. It has vase-shaped and dark green foliage that turns a delicate yellow or orange in the fall.
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- Yellowwood trees also have smooth light gray bark. These are all such healthy and attractive specimens.
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- These are upright ironwood trees, Parrotia Persica ‘Persian Spire’, discovered by John Lewis of JLPN in 2013. It has finer foliage with a narrower leaf than the common ironwood.
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- In spring, its leaves emerge with a strong purple cast that fades to shiny green. Its summer foliage is dark emerald green.
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- Planting trees is great way to enjoy the beauty of nature and to give back to the environment. I hope I’ve inspired you to plant a tree this spring – perhaps in honor of Earth Day, which is on April 22nd!
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