Wildflower Wednesday: Ostrya virginiana is still dancing in the garden

Can you see the dancer in the tree?

I do.

She's still there, dancing in the tree all year round. It's been forever ago that I first saw her; so long ago that I can no longer remember when. What I do remember is saving this beauty from an invasive Japanese Wisteria that was strangling it as it climbed snake like up the tree. It could have been my imagination, but, I know the tree breathed a sigh of relief when the wisteria was cut away.

Since that time the American hophornbeam has been a lovely year round beauty in the garden.

The golden colored fall leaves she was wearing have turned a crispy brown.

 But, she's still beautiful to me. It's a gem of a tree with year round good looks that don't disappear in winter. You just have to look up to see the Dancer in the Tree reaching for the sky. She's lost her high kicking limbs, but, she's still there.

 As it ages the branches become irregular and have a beautiful layered grace to them.

It's a lovely small tree, that I would miss terribly if it weren't here. My goal has been to provide habitat for critters in a visually attractive space and Ostrya virginiana brings grace, beauty, while providing for wildlife.

Ostrya virginiana also provides shade for wildflowers and mosses to grow. Each spring when the sun warms the soil,  Trilliums, false rue anemones, spring beauties, toothworts and other spring ephemeral blooms crowd the woodland floor beneath her skirt.

Ostrya virginiana is a naturally occurring understory tree in dry woodlands like Clay and Limestone and it's planted itself among the oaks and shagbark hickories that populate my garden. I can see it as a specimen along walks, in parks and of course, in a naturalized or woodland garden like mine. It's small, rarely growing taller then 30 feet or so. An easy tree that thrives in the dry mesic soil. It doesn't mind rocky slopes or ridges; it's very shade tolerate, which makes it a perfect small tree to thrive under canopy trees in established yards. It isn't bothered by most insects or fungal diseases. It has both male and female flowers (monoecious), so, it needs no pollinators, just the wind.

But, just because it doesn't need pollinators, doesn't mean it has little wildlife value. Like many native trees it's the preferred food for the caterpillars of several dozen moths and birds and animals rely on Hop Hornbeam as a source of food. These species include the Ruffed Grouse (buds, catkins), Downy Woodpecker (seeds), and Purple Finch (seeds). Among mammals, the Fox Squirrel, Red Squirrel, Woodland Deer Mouse, and White-Footed Mouse eat the seeds and buds, while the White-Tailed Deer browses sparingly on the twigs and leaves. (Illinois wildflowers)

Hophornbeam is a native of the eastern half of the US and Canada; including most of the Midwestern states and Texas. It has has serrated leaves that resemble an elm. The stems are very slender, giving the tree a fine textured appearance during the winter season. The fall foliage turns a most becoming yellow....and when the wind blows they flutter and bounce a golden light around the garden. Sometimes the coppery brown leaves stay the entire winter accenting the textured bark and twisted and knobby trunk.

The Particulars
Ostrya virginiana
Common Name: eastern hop hornbeam or American hophornbeam
Type: Tree
Family: Betulaceae
Native Range: Cape Breton, Ontario to Minnesota, and Eastern North America, south to Texas and Florida; Mexico and Central America.
Zone: 3 to 9
Growth habit: Somewhat pyramidal when young, usually rounded or oval later. Has many horizontal or drooping branches.
Height: 25.00 to 40.00 feet
Spread: 20.00 to 30.00 feet
Bark:

This tree has interesting reddish brown bark that is broken into narrow strips that are loose at both ends. The bark does peel off in places, but, don't worry, it's okay.
Bloom Time: April
Flower and fruit: Monoecious

female flowers

Female catkins are visible in April.

Male catkins

 Male catkins are usually about 1 inch long, grouped in threes and visible throughout the winter.

Fruits are nutlets enclosed in "hop-like" pale green, papery capsules.

Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Reproduction: The woody root system produces no vegetative offsets; this tree reproduces by reseeding itself into new areas.
Suggested Use: Shade Tree, Street Tree
Tolerate: Deer, Drought, Clay Soil
Comments: American hophornbeam, which loves hilly areas,

has papery capsules containing nuts that are eaten by a variety of wildlife including grouse, bobwhite, deer, pheasant, rabbit and turkey. This tree has interesting reddish brown bark that is broken into narrow strips that are loose at both ends. Young American hophornbeam trees look a great deal like sweet birch (Betula lenta). In the wild, this tree provides shade for wildflowers and mosses.  Its wood is very hard and is sometimes used to make tool handles. The tree has light brown heartwood and thick, white sapwood.

Hophornbeams are totally under appreciated native trees that would be lovely in our gardens, if only we knew about them! You aren't going to find them at your local garden center, so you will have to search the internet or native plant nurseries. Trust me, this little understory woodland tree is worth the trouble to find.
xoxogail

Welcome to Clay and Limestone and Wildflower Wednesday. This year, I am especially grateful for the health and well being of my family; for loving and supportive friends; for rain that finally fell in Middle Tennessee; for wildflowers that bloomed no matter how horrid the weather has been and for the trees that shade my garden and add to the beauty that surrounds our home. Thank you all for joining me this year to share and celebrate the wonderful wildflowers that live and thrive in our gardens. Remember, it doesn't matter if they are in bloom or not, you can still share them.  Please leave a comment and add your name to Mr Linky so others can pop over to see your Wildflower Wednesday post.



Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Blooms and Foliage December 2014

Today, there's not a bloom to be found at Clay and Limestone, the way too early Arctic cold front flash froze everything except two stalwart plants, Hamamelis virginiana and Symphyotrichum praealtum. They put on quite a nice show until just last week, so I felt fine sharing them for my Bloom Day post!

Willowleaf aster

What's left to make a gardener smile on a winter's day?

Ostrya virginica

 Trees that hold their leaves all winter!

Foliage that twists and curls.

 Grasses that accent evergreens.

 Ex-aster's seed heads.

 Amsonia hubrichtii beginning to curl

Fluffy Goldenrod ready to spread its progeny out into the world!

Copper tubing, cobalt containers and golden panicums!

Hypericum frondosum

Hyper-colored Hypericum frondosum!

I hope your garden is making you smile!

xoxogail

Now make this garden blogger smile and pop over to May Dreams Gardens, where our delightful hostess, Carol, has set up the Mr Linky magic carpet ride to take you to more Bloom Day posts than you can imagine and to Pam's Foliage Follow-up on Digging....because blooms aren't alone in making a garden beautiful.

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

An almost Wordless Wednesday: Hamamelis virginiana

Is blooming in my Middle Tennessee garden right now.

It's a splendid little native tree that is too often overlooked for its flashier Asian relatives. How any one could think this tree unlovely or unworthy of a place in their garden is beyond my understanding!

The crepe papery blooms look especially enchanting with a backdrop of golden Shagbark hickory and Hophornbeam leaves and the Autumn blue sky!

xoxogail

PS I've written about witch hazels several times and you can read their story at Wildflower Wednesday: In praise of a native tree and When a tree blooms in Autumn.

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

I Am Not All About Wildflowers!

But, I am a lot about them!

I'm also pretty fond of the native shrubs and trees that make up the understory and canopy at Clay and Limestone.

They are ornamenting the garden with their brilliant costumes as the entire garden prepares for the annual Clay and Limestone Autumn Dance.

Not yet dressed in her golden ball gown

No one will argue that the Queen of the garden is the Dancing Tree. She is guarded over by the tallest oaks and hickories. She has a graceful presence matched by no other at C and L.

The King of the garden,  Rusty is waiting patiently for the Dancer to make her entrance. He's donned his famous rusty red fall dinner jacket and is wearing a drupe boutonnière.

Soon the Queen and King will lead the procession across their small garden kingdom. Rusty and the Dancing Tree will dance the last dance before the long winter rest. She will be adorned in golden yellows and he will sport a deep burgundy suit with hints of green.

The crowd will  bow to their beauty.
xoxogail


Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Marvelous Marcescence or Love Those Lingering Leaves

Ostrya virginiana (American Hophornbeam)

Most deciduous trees lose their leaves in autumn, but Oak (Quercus), Beech (Fagus), Hornbeam (Carpinus), Ostrya (Dancing Tree) and  Witch Hazel (Hamamelis)  are an exception.  They hold their leaves until spring when the new emerging leaves push them off.

come spring newly emerging leaves will push the old leaves off the tree

This holding onto leaves is referred to as marcescence and no one is absolutely sure why some trees hold onto their leaves while others don't.  It may be that it deters foraging of young buds and branches by deer (dead leaves are not tasty)  or it may aid in protecting the tree from water or temperature stress during the winter.

You might have seen them in a nearby woodland,  like these beeches along the trail at Percy Warner Park in Middle Tennessee.  I love seeing a 'grove' of them  marching down the hillside and  fluttering in the winter wind.

  Even on the grayest days they create depth in our other wise two dimensional winter woods.

They look especially beautiful back lit on a snowy winter's day. 

This morning I noticed this beautiful beech in full marvelous marcesence outside the Radnor Lake visitor center.

Early settlers used the springy beech leaves to stuff their mattresses 

The leaves still had streaks of  summer green and were dry, yet, springy to the touch.  Out of curiosity I tried to tug one of them from the branch; it would not budge.  I've noticed this same  springy quality to  the clinging leaves on my Dancing Tree (seen in first photo) and on several of the witch hazels in my garden. 

I love the  Dancing Tree's marvelous clinging leaves and  American Beech's leaves are so attractive that I will plant one  or two in my garden,  but, I wish the witch hazel,  Hamamelis x intermedia 'Diane' did not hang so stubbornly to  her leaves.  Only once has 'Diane'  dropped her leaves before blooming and  that time it took several  arctic blasts to freeze dry the leaves right off her. Barring extreme winter weather,  there are two choices open to me.  I can accept the leaves or I can cut them off!  I haven't decided which it shall be.  But, if you're driving by this weekend and notice someone up on a ladder, that will be me, cutting away those marvelous marsescent leaves.

Last winter with marscecent leaves still clinging

A girl's gotta do what she's gotta do for beauty!

xxoogail

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone."

Wildflower Wednesday Part 3: Thanksgiving Celebration~This Time A Tree

The Dancing Tree kicks up her heels and reaches for the sky earlier this November

There is the loveliest tree in my garden. I call her my Dancing Tree.  Ostrya virginiana is a naturally occurring understory tree in dry woodlands like Clay and Limestone and it's planted itself among the oaks and shagbark hickories that populate my garden. Hophornbeams are totally under appreciated native trees that would be lovely in our gardens, if only we knew about them! 

It has an attractive shape and form that looks lovely on the edge of the wildflower garden. As it ages the branches become irregular and have a beautiful layered grace to them. You just have to look up to see the Dancer in the Tree reaching for the sky while performing a high kick.

It's small, rarely growing taller then 30 feet or so. An easy tree that thrives in the dry mesic soil of my garden. It doesn't mind rocky slopes or ridges; it's very shade tolerate, which makes it a perfect small tree to thrive under larger oaks or pines. I can see it as a specimen along walks, in parks and of course, in a naturalized or woodland garden like mine. Hophornbeam is a native of the eastern half of the US and Canada; including most of the Midwestern states and Texas.

O virginiana (Betulaceae family) has serrated leaves that resemble an elm. The stems are very slender, giving the tree a fine textured appearance during the winter season. The fall foliage turns a most becoming yellow....and when the wind blows they flutter and bounce a golden light around the garden.  Sometimes the coppery brown leaves stay the entire winter accenting the textured bark and twisted and knobby trunk.

I find this tree completely charming and recommend it highly for your shady native garden. 

It's a perfect understory tree for the taller oaks and the graceful  lower limbs don't crowd the witch hazels, hypericums and dogwoods at the shrub layer.  Spring Beauties, toothworts, false rue anemone, Iris cristata, Phlox paniculata, ferns and other wildflowers dance at  her feet all spring and summer.

 
It's a gem of a tree!

It's not a picky grower; will tolerate dry shade; and even high winds. It isn't bothered by most insects or fungal diseases.  It has both male and female flowers (monoecious), so, it needs no pollinators, just the wind.

leaves often hang on all winter making it quite striking in a winter garden

In the forests and woodlands, the buds and catkins of Eastern Hophornbeam are important winter food for ruffed grouse,  sharp-tailed grouse and wild turkey. It's eaten  by bobwhite, red and gray squirrels, cottontails, white-tailed deer and ring-necked pheasant.

Suburban dwellers, like me, will appreciate that it provides food for purple finch, rose-breasted grosbeak and downy woodpeckers. It also is a host plant for the larva of several winter moths.

Small native trees like Hophornbeam might be hard to find, but, they are available.  Try an internet search if you haven't a local native plant nursery nearby.  Middle Tennessee gardeners can find them at GroWild Nursery.

xxoogail

Welcome to Clay and Limestone and  Part 3 of  the Thanksgiving week long celebration of wildflowers. It's our annual celebration of the "First Thanksgiving" when colonists celebrated arriving safely in the New World and all across America families and friends gathered for Thanksgiving dinner. It's traditionally a time for appreciating the bounty in our lives.

Carya

This year, I am especially grateful for the health and well being of my family; for loving and supportive friends; for rain that finally fell in Middle Tennessee; for wildflowers that bloomed no matter how horrid the weather has been and for the trees that shade my garden and add to the beauty that surrounds our home.   Thank you all for joining me all this week to share and celebrate the wonderful wildflowers that live and thrive in our gardens. Remember, it doesn't matter if they are in bloom or not, you can still share them.  Please leave a comment and add your name to Mr Linky so others can pop over to see your Wildflower Wednesday post.

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone."

Take Time To Sit In Your Garden

Give yourself permission to revel in the beauty around you.

Celebrate what you have created.

 Focus on your successes not the defeats.

 There's always a list and there's always a project, but, how many beautiful fall days will there be like today?

When the autumn sun  lights up grasses;

makes leaves glow a brilliant red;

or,  highlights simple fruits? 

Soon, I will miss the golden colors and the warm days, but, not today. 

Today, I will sit in the garden and revel in the beauty. I hope you will, too.

xxoogail

I'm joining Dave's Fall Color Project 2011,  please visit The Home Garden for more beautiful fall gardens.

Photos:
1. Ostrya virginiana
2. Cotinus 'Grace'; Juniperus virginiana 'Gray Owl'; Basil
3. Panicum virgatum 'Northwind'; Aronia arbutifolia
4. Garden of Benign Neglect~Viburnum rifidulum/Rusty Blackhaw
5. Panicum 'Northwind' (here)
6. 'Glowing Embers' Japanese Maple developed for the south
7. Aronia arbutifolia berries~
8. Carya ovata/Shagbark Hickory
9. A little of this and a little of that~ Ex-aster, juniper, River Oats...


Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone."