American Elm - Ulmus americana

Ulmaceae - Elm Family 
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 91
American Elm Tree
Ulmus americana

Spring

This beautiful American Elm lives at the Asheville Botanical Gardens.  http://www.ashevillebotanicalgardens.org/

The American Elm leaves are now on the trees.  These leaves have toothed edges; they are rough on the upper side and smooth on the lower side.  These leaves have a pointed tip, and are arranged on the twigs in an alternate arrangement.

The American Elm can grow to over one hundred feet and live several hundred years as long as it is not affected by Dutch Elm Disease.

Summer

The American Elm Tree

There is an American Elm tree that lives at the Asheville Botanical Gardens. It is very large and provides welcome shade in a beautiful meadow called Sycamore Meadow. Standing under the American Elm on the day I took this photograph, I could hear nearby Reed Creek as it flowed over the rocks. I could also hear the daytime singing insects, the sound of summer.

Ulmus americana, American Elm

Ulmus americana,  American Elm

Ulmus americana,  American Elm

Ulmus americana, American Elm

This American Elm lives at the John C. Campbell school.

On the branches in the first photo you can see little bump like balls on the branches.  I was wanting to get closer to identify what that was.  So, I pulled out the macro lens and discovered those little balls are buds.  You can see the buds in the second photo and also an up-close leaf.

I also observed the deeply grooved bark when I put the macro lens very close to the trunk.  You can see this in the third photo.

I always appreciate the silhouette of the American Elm with such graceful branches.

This month is the month that the leaves start looking a bit eaten up and full of holes.  Enjoy the insect sounds of August and the interesting leafs with all the insect holes.

Fall 

The American Elm Tree

This American Elm Tree lives at the Asheville Botanical Gardens.  ashevillebotanicalgardens.org.

Winter

This tree is a survivor for the American Elms have been struck by the Dutch Elm Disease. Yet, today, some amazing Elm Trees still survive.

Often there are diamond shaped ridges in the bark of this tree as it ages.

 The American Elm - Ulmus americana.  Photo by Robert Priddy.

This American Elm lives at the Asheville Botanical Gardens.  http://www.ashevillebotanicalgardens.org/

 The American Elm - Ulmus americana,  Photo by Robert Priddy

I can see spring coming soon in the new buds emerging on this American Elm twig.

The Champion American Elm Trees

The North Carolina champion American Elm tree lives in Bertie County in Powellsville and is 135 feet tall.
http://ncforestservice.gov/Urban/tree_detail.asp?Tree_ID=212

My favorite American Elm Tree

My favorite American Elm lives at the Botanical Gardens of Asheville.

Plant an American Elm Tree

There is a Quest happening to restore the American Elms.  Please read this article and learn all you can about what can be done to restore the mightly American Elms.

https://blog.nature.org/science/2017/08/09/quest-restore-american-elms-nearing-finish-line/

For the love of the trees,
Becky

Ulmus americana from my journal....

Winged Elm - Ulmus alata

Ulmaceae - Elm Family 
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 90
Winged Elm Tree
Ulmus alata

Spring

Winged Elm in the Smokies by Robert Priddy

This tree is an blooms early in spring.  The winged Elm flowers appear before the leaves.  These flowers are called perfect flowers; for they have both male and female parts.  The fruit, which is called a samara, develops after pollination from the flower.  The fruit has one seed and is eaten by birds, for it one of the first foods in the spring that grows on trees.  The leaf buds open after the flowers.  The leaf buds are a food source for deer.

This tree ususally has corky ridges on the branche.

Summer

TheWinged Elm in early Summer

The leaves of the Winged Elm are toothed, small, and grow alternately on the corky twigs.  By this time of year, all the leaves are fully grown and green.

This Winged Elm leaf  has fallen from the tree probably during a summer rainstorm and turned prematurely yellow.

The early fruits and young leaves of this tree are important wildlife food.  This tree usually grows up to 80 feet and can live over a hundred years of more if not affected by the Dutch Elm disease.

Fall 

This is a closeup I took of the Winged Elm at the North Fork of the White River in Arkansas.
You can really see why it is called the Winged Elm.

The branches of this tree have wings.  

Winter

The Winged Elm - Ulmus alata

This Winged Elm lives at the Asheville Botanical Gardens.  http://www.ashevillebotanicalgardens.org/
Notice how the buds look lacey in this picture and how the wings on the stems stand out.

The Winged Elm - Ulmus alata

The Champion Winged Elm Tree

The champion winged elm tree in North Carolina lives in Falkland, NC.  It is 114 feet high and has a circumference of 117 inches. 
http://www.ncforestservice.gov/Urban/tree_detail.asp?Tree_ID=510

My favorite Winged Elm Tree

My favorite Winged Elm tree lives at the Botanical Gardens in Asheville.

Plant a Winged Elm Tree

The early fruits and young leaves of this tree are important wildlife food.  This tree usually grows up to 80 feet and can live over a hundred years of more if not affected by the Dutch Elm disease.

For the love of the trees,
Becky

Ulmus alata, from my journal...

Hackberry - Celtis occidentalis

Ulmaceae - Elm Family 
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 89
Hackberry Tree
Celtis occidentalis

Spring

The Hackberry Tree in May

The Hackberry Bark

This Hackberry lives at the Asheville Botanical Gardens.  ashevillebotanicalgardens.org.

The characteristic bark has what looks like corky bumps all over the bark.  The leaves are alternate, 2-5 inches long, and 1-2 inches wide.  The leaf base is rounded, unequal, the margins are coarsely serrate, and the tip are pointed.

Summer

I will be updating the Summer image this coming summer.  Please check back.

Fall 

I will be updating the Fall image this coming fall.  Please check back.

Winter

The Hackberry - Celtis occidentalis.  

Thank you Widimedia commons for this beautiful image and photographer, Sten Porce.  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Celtis-occidentalis-fruits.JPG

This tree can be identified in the winter by the bark.  The bark gets these incredible corky bumps all over it.

The Champion Hackberry Trees

The champion Hackberry of North Carolina lives in Whiteville, North Carolina.  It is 93 feet high and has a circumference of 194 inches.
http://www.ncforestservice.gov/Urban/tree_detail.asp?Tree_ID=537

My favorite Hackberry Tree

My favorite Hackberry tree lives at the Botanical Gardens of Asheville.

Plant a Hackberry Tree

Many birds and small mammals eat these berries in the winter.

The Hackberry tree is the host plant for several species of butterflies including one called the Hackberry butterfly.

For the love of the trees,
Becky

from my journal...

Basswood - Tilia americana

Tiliaceae - Basswood Family 
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 88
Basswood Tree
Tilia americana

Spring

The Basswood Tree - Tilia americana

The Basswood Tree - Tilia americana

The Basswood Tree - Tilia americana

This Basswood tree lives at the Asheville Botanical Gardens.  ashevillebotanicalgardens.org

Summer

The Basswood tree leaves in the summer have this interesting lacy look.

The leaves are alternate and heart shaped, 4-6 inches long, 3-4 inches wide, dark green and shiny underneath.

The flowers come out in June and July. They have a sweet fragrance and can be smelled for up to mile. The flowers are tiny with five whitish petals that hang down from a green bract. Bees are attracted to the flowers and will cover the tree during the blooming. That is why this tree is called a Bee tree. The bees make a honey that is called "water white" and is delicious.

Teas are made from the dried flowers. I have not tried this, yet I am going to.

"Under the Tilia tree
on the open field,
where we two had our bed,
you still can see
lovely both
broken flowers and grass.
On the edge of the woods in a vale,
tandaradei,
sweetly sang the nightingale."

Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170–c. 1230)

Fall 

The Basswood Tree

This Basswood Tree lives at the Botanical Gardens of Asheville. All the leaves are almost on the ground today. Fall is in the air with the cool air and deep blue sky and the earth covered in fall leaves.
ashevillebotanicalgardens.org

Winter

Tilia americana

This Basswood Tree lives at the Asheville Botanical Gardens.  www.ashevillebotanicalgardens.org

Tilia americana

This time of year notice how the buds are just getting ready to open.  Soon the young leaves will come out on a basswood tree.  I have heard that the basswood leaves make a very delicious wild salad, the greens being sweet and tasty.

Basswood trees twigs are red or yellowish-brown and smooth. Winter buds have three scales.Terminal buds are absent.

The Champion Basswood Tree

The American Forests champion Basswood tree lives in Kentucky.  It is 102 feet tall and has a circumference of 276 inches.  It lives in Lexington Cemetery.  http://www.americanforests.org/big-trees/american-basswood-tilia-americana-2/

My favorite Basswood Tree

My favorite Basswood tree lives at the Botanical Gardens of Asheville.  

Plant a Basswood Tree

This tree gives us Basswood honey, wood for carving, shade on a hot summer's day, and the wonderful scent in the air when the flowers are blooming.

For the love of the trees,
Becky

Tilia americana...leaf drawing by Brooke Priddy Conrad

Bigleaf Storax - Styrax grandifolia

Styracaceae - Storax Family
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 87
Bigleaf Storax Tree
Styrax grandifolfia

Spring

The Bigleaf Storax - Styrax grandifolia

The Bigleaf Storax - Styrax grandifolia

This Bigleaf Storax lives at the Asheville Botanical Gardens on the Fern and Moss Trail by the ancient rock. This green leaves are fully grown and the flowers are still on the tree.

Summer

I will get out and photograph the Summer tree soon.

Fall 

I will get out and photograph the Fall tree this coming Fall.  Please check back.

Winter

The Bigleaf Storax - Styrax grandifolia

This Bigleaf Storax lives at the Asheville Botanical Gardens. www.ashevillebotanicalgardens.org

The tree grows next to a rock that is probably over 40 million years old, according to a local professor of geology.  The profile of the tree against the ancient rock looks quite haunting.

The Bigleaf Storax - Styrax grandifolia

The Champion Bigleaf Storax Trees

One of the North Carolina champion Bigleaf Storax trees lives at the Botanical Gardens of Asheville.  In fact, it is my favorite Bigleaf Storax.  On the North Carolina Forest Service Website it is called the Bigleaf Snowbell, another name for this tree.  http://www.ncforestservice.gov/Urban/tree_detail.asp?Tree_ID=558

My favorite Bigleaf Storax Tree

My favorite Bigleaf Storax is the tree I photographed in this blog.  It lives at the Botanical Gardens of Asheville.

Plant a Bigleaf Storax Tree

The Bigleaf Storax tree have beautiful white flowers that provide pollen to bees and other pollinators.  The leaves and seeds provide food for mammals and seed-eating birds.

For the love of the trees,
Becky

from my journal...

Carolina Silverbell - Halesia carolina

Styracaceae - Storax Family
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 86
Carolina Silverbell Tree
Halesia carolina

Spring

Carolina Silverbell
Photo by Robert Priddy

Silverbell Tree.  Photo by Robert Priddy

The Silverbell can be identified by the beautiful bells that are on the tree in April and May as well as the alternate green leaves with a pointed end. 

Summer

The Carolina  Silverbell Tree

The Carolina Silverbell Tree

The four sided fruits are on the Carollina Silverbell tree this time of year. You can see these fruits in the first photo on this post. They will persist on the tree through most of the winter. The bark on young trees has streaks of white/yellow; the older trees have much different bark.

Fall 

The Silverbell Tree

The Silverbell Tree

This Silverbell tree lives at the Asheville Botanical Gardens.  ashevillebotanicalgardens.org.

The fall Silverbell tree has just a few of the 4 winged fruits left clinging to it's branches.

Winter

Thank you to Wikimedia Commons and photographer, Kurt Stuber, for this photo of the winter Silverbell Tree's fruit.  
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Halesia_carolina6.jpg#filehistory

The four-sided fruits are about two inches long and mature in autumn.  They will dry and some will remain on the tree throughout the winter.

The Silverbell Tree - Halesia carolina

Their are just a few fruit capsules remaining on the Silverbell in February.  I was thinking how humans and animials are like this Silverbell tree.  By the end of winter, some of us are barely hanging on; ready to fling open the windows and doors and let in springtime.  We find ourselves looking forward to the new life of spring and the warm sun on our skin.  Springtime hurry..we are ready.

The tree is often described as a "Hershey Tree" for it's bark resembles a milk chocolate bar. My friend, Linda, calls it a "chocolate corn flake tree" for the bark looks like chocolate corn flakes; and I agree with her.

The Champion Carolina Silverbell Tree

The North Carolina champion Carolina Silverbell tree lives in Buncombe County at the Biltmore estate.  It is 90 feet tall and has a circumference of 86 inches.

check out ncforestservice.gov and search the data base for the Silverbell tree.  There is a great photo and description of where this tree is located.

http://www.ncforestservice.gov/Urban/nc_champion_big_trees_database_search.asp

My favorite Carolina Silverbell Tree

My favorite Carolina Silverbell tree lives at the Botanical Gardens of Asheville.

Plant a Carolina Silverbell Tree

Squirrels, honeybees, bumblebees, Promethea moths as well as other moths, and birds all are able to use this tree for food and shelter.  Hummingbirds come to this tree during the flowering time in May.  This tree grows up to 30 feet tall.  I would love to plant a grove of Silverbell trees at Priddy woods, where I live.  

For the love of the trees,
Becky

Halesia carolina

Black Willow - Salix nigra

Salicaceae - Willow Family
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 85
Black Willow Tree
Salix nigra

Spring

The Black Willow.  Photo by Robert Priddy

The Black Willow.  Photo by Robert Priddy

This Black Willow lives at Myakka River State Park in Florida.   The leaves were just coming out iin early March when we took this photo.

Summer

Black Willow on the French Broad River in Asheville

A good ID tip for this tree is the leaves. This tree has very long and slender leaves. The green leaves have fine teeth and are hairless on both sides. 
The leaves of this tree are described as:

• narrow
• lance shaped
• often curved to one side
• pointed
• finely toothed
• alternate, simple

The bark is another good ID tip. It is black and becomes deep and furrowed on older trees.  This is frequent streamside tree.

I have heard of some beautiful baskets made from the bark and twigs of this tree. I hope to find one and even learn how to make a basket from a Black Willow tree.

Fall 

 This tree lives in Mountain Home Arkansas at
 Cooper Park by the Historic village along a stream.

This is a closer view of the interesting bark and leaves of Salix nigra, the Black Willow tree.

Winter

The bark has been used to make tea for centuries to cure headaches, fevers, intestinal ailments, and even as a wash to stimulate hair growth. Leaves have been used as poultices for sprains, bruises and sores.The twigs are usually bright yellow, the bark can become furrowed at a fairly young age, deeply furrowed with age. Often there are multiple trunks.

The Champion Black Willow Trees

The North Carolina champion tree lives in Bertie county, North Carolina at the Roanoke River National Wildlife refuge.  It is 76 feet high with a circumference of 123 inches.

http://www.ncforestservice.gov/Urban/tree_detail.asp?Tree_ID=550

"The Marlboro Tree
A Local Legacy
How old do trees live to be? There is a black willow tree in Marlboro, New Jersey, that is more than 150 years old. It started growing before the Civil War. Not only is the Marlboro Tree old, but it's also huge. It's 76 feet tall and over 19 feet in circumference (the measurement around the trunk of the tree). Five adults would have to hold hands to fully encircle the trunk. The Marlboro Tree is the largest black willow in New Jersey and the largest tree in Marlboro. In fact, the New Jersey Forest Service has certified it as a "State Champion" because of its size."

An interesting aside, since I am currently reading "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince"
There is an old tree on the grounds of Hogwarts called the Whomping Willow. It was planted in order to conceal a passageway Lupin went through every full moon when he turned into a werewolf.

My favorite Black Willow Trees

I love to walk by the river in West Asheville and look at all the Black Willow tree that grow by the river.

Plant a Black Willow Treel

The flowers of the Black Willow tree attract birds and butterflies.  It is a larval host for the beautiful Mourning cloak, Viceroy, Red-spotted Purple, Viceroy, Red-spotted Purple, Tiger Swallowtail, and Acadian Hairsteak butterflies.  

If I lived near a stream, I would love to plant this amazing butterfly tree.

For the love of the trees,
Becky