Category: Trees
Fragrance in the Garden: The Katsura Tree in Autumn
Purchased five years ago at a benefit for the Reeves Reed Arboretum in Summit, New Jersey, this Katsura tree, Cercidiphyllum japonicum, has grown from two feet to about twenty feet tall. Because of its beautiful form (it will be great to climb in about fifty years) and leaves (now yellow), it is one of my favorite trees in the garden. In addition, its most unique feature is its caramel-like fragrance that you experience in the fall. It is planted in the backyard next to the fort and in front of the deer fence.~
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Update: as requested, here is an additional picture which displays what the leaves of the Katsura tree look like during the spring and summer.
A Flowering Tree for Spring and Fall: Autumn Cherry Blossoms
Despite temperatures forecast to dip below freezing, another week has gone by and I have thankfully not yet experienced my first frost. The weather is supposed to be in the forties to sixties this week, so it will be a perfect autumn week in the garden.
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As I have previously written, I love flowering trees. I love them so much that I seek out varieties that blossom at various times of the year, not just the spring. For example, my new autumn cherry, prunus subhirtella autumnalis (pictured below), which I planted this spring in the Walled Garden, blossoms in both the spring and the fall. The autumn blooms, offset by the leaves which have already started to change from green to red, started showing themselves in October and are continuing into November.
Sweet Bay Magnolia
If you love flowering trees, why limit yourself to the spring blooming varieties? This lovely sweet bay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) flowers in my zone (6b) in July. It blossoms over long period with fragrant, creamy white flowers. The leaves are beautiful green with grayish white underside that is wonderful in the wind.
The only thing that I haven’t liked is that although it is evergreen, by the end of the winter it looks very battered until new leaves push out in late spring. If our climate were a bit warmer the leaves would come through the winter in better condition; or, if our climate was colder the sweet bay magnolia would be deciduous. This spring I moved this magnolia from a more prominent location in the Walled Garden to a less prominent whiskey barrel in the back of the children’s playground.
The sweet bay is also sometimes called the swamp magnolia because as well as growing in ordinary garden soil it also grows well in wet soils or swampy areas. It also tolerates shade.
Witch Hazel: Winter’s Cheerleader, Yelling for Spring
As a follow-up to my prior post (http://heirloomgardener.blogspot.com/2007/12/common-witchhazel-blooming-in-december.html), this week’s “In the Garden” section of the New York Times featured an article singing the praises of witch hazels, provides useful information about different cultivars, and lists three nurseries that carry a broad selection of them: Fairweather Gardens in Greenwich, NJ; RareFind Nursery in Jackson, NJ; and Broken Arrow Nursery in Hamden, CT.
Anne Raver writes: “Sunny, warm days in midwinter always send me in search of fragrant witch hazels, those graceful shrubs that unfurl their crinkled, confetti-like flowers from January to March.” For the full article, including some great photographs by Andrea Mohin, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/garden/14garden.html?ex=1360731600&en=cf0cacc8f115ae37&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Common Witchhazel Blooming in December
When driving to my friend P’s house (also in Chatham, New Jersey), I almost ran off the road when I noticed 
Common Witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana) in full bloom. I’d never noticed it before, as it is a small tree in the corner of her yard–but now that it’s in bloom, you can’t miss it.
My friend P was kind enough to give me a branch that came off during the recent ice storm to enjoy indoors.
From this branch, I have taken a few small cuttings and put them in the refrigerator, so I can try to propagate them in the spring. If I can’t, I’ll have to find one to mail order.
Crabapple Tree in Winter
The crabapple tree in the Egg Garden is one of my favorites. Previously, there was a Japanese maple in the same location that died, so I decided I wanted something with spring flowers and winter interest. The crabapple tree is just perfect. In the spring it’s covered with white, sweetly scented flowers. For fall, the leaves turn yellow and drop to reveal gorgeous red fruits which the birds eat all winter.
A Tree Falls Down in New Jersey
Given that I haven’t poste since last winter, I guess I only have time for this blog in the off-season.
Last year, the trauma of the garden was a 100+ year-old oak tree falling in the backyard. Our wonderful arborists from Savatree (http://www.savatree.com/) check our trees every year, and both of these trees were quite sound.
Then in the spring, after a heavy rainstorm, we heard a giant cracking sound in the backyard and actually saw the tree falling. This, as the arborist categorized it for insurance purposes, was truly an act of God. As if this wasn’t bad enough, it had grown intertwined at the base to a 100+ year-old tulip tree. Removing a tree that has fallen down, assuming that it hasn’t fallen down on your house, is a pretty minor job. However, removing a giant tulip tree with no other trees around it, is a major job that requires heavy machinery. The arborists did everything possible to avoid this, but it was unavoidable. The heavy machinery, to say the least, destroyed significant parts of the backyard and garden, not to mention the damage to the driveway. Speakng of insurance, the people at Chubb (http://www.chubb.com/) were wonderful about the whole affair.
The gardening challenge was multi-fold: the back corner of the garden which was formerly full-shade was now full-sun.
To be continued…
Heirloom Gardener 
