Native Winter Interest Trees (part 1)
\nCollin McMichael, Education Coordinator
\nTreeFolks, 1\/8\/20<\/p>\n
Here in Central Texas, we may not get the extreme winters felt more often in other parts of the country,
\nbut we can still enjoy our wintery landscape despite the balmy temperatures! Correct tree selection for
\nyour site can lead to better seasonal enjoyment, especially if trees are used to highlight seasonal
\nprogressions either through contrast or through seasonally iconic states. I personally believe that there
\nis a tree that can be the dominant focus of your garden for each season, and some of these trees are
\neven showstoppers in more than one time of year! This list, however, will be focusing specifically on
\nthose native trees that show off the best during our drearier months.
\nOf course, a \u201cwinter tree list\u201d has to start with evergreens. Maybe it’s because so many people truly
\nhate winter that they want to pretend it’s summer year-round, or maybe that\u2019s just me projecting.
\nRegardless, our frigid, 70-degree days and ample sunshine make for a lot of native species that retain
\nleaf cover year-round. Some notable examples of these would of course be the live oak and closely
\nrelated Monterrey oak, but those are not as fun to talk about as others. Similarly, you all know what a
\nTexas Mountain Laurel is, so I will not be talking about its peppery, winter leaves or its grape-scented,
\nspring majesty. Instead, I will be focusing my energy on less commonly planted species like a Carolina
\ncherry laurel or an anacua if you are looking for the coarser texture and shape of a broadleaved tree. If
\nyour garden design calls for the fine or ferny texture of a conifer, a Montezuma cypress or Arizona
\ncypress may be more your speed.
\nThe Carolina cherry laurel, while not technically native to Central Texas, is naturally spreading this
\ndirection from its East Texas confines. It is a densely foliated tree that works well as a screening hedge.
\nIts berries attract large numbers of birds too! Unfortunately, wetter winters can see an outbreak of
\n\u201cshot-hole\u201d fungus on the leaves, especially on more compact or densely branched cultivars, though the
\ntree usually outgrows this fungus by the following spring. Even with the occasional pest, Its glossy green
\nfoliage remains a welcome reminder of lusher times in the darkest days.
\nThe anacua, one of our Sapling Days species this year, has similarly colored leaves and is an exceptionally
\ntough Central Texas native, though they can be hard to find in nature as far north as Austin. Regardless,
\nwith our warming climate we can expect anacua to do quite well within our urban heat island. Its
\nsandpapery leaves can drop in extreme cold, but they usually don\u2019t. These trees make mannerly
\nmounds of dark green foliage that easily blocks the sightlines of not-uninterested neighbors. Anacua
\ncan also be a feature of a tactile garden experience as its one of the few trees with highly textured
\nleaves leading to its alternate common name, the \u201csandpaper tree.\u201d
\nCoarse textures and broadleaves end once you enter the conifers in favor of needles, scales, and finer
\nthings. One such fine texture belongs to the ferny foliage of the Montezuma cypress, which is native to
\nTexas, but only the extreme southern tip of Big Bend. This tree greatly resembles its sister species, the
\nbald cypress, in all ways besides a lack of winter nudity, an inability to produce lawn-mower-destroying
\nknees, and a refusal to acknowledge any sort of \u201cneed for water\u201d that so many other trees complain
\nabout during drought. Oddly enough, these are also the traits that make it a much more desirable tree
\nfor Central Texas than the bald cypress, which in our area finds itself restricted to creeks and Home
\nDepot parking lots. Massive cold snaps have been known to cause leaves to change colors on
\nMontezumas to a rich wine-purple, but the leaves are usually retained until the following spring.
\nThe Arizona cypress, which is strangely in no way related to the bald or Montezuma cypresses other
\nthan similarly producing cones, is another strikingly beautiful tree for our area. Native to west Texas and
\nArizona, this drought adapted tree can be seen planted along roadways and used as screens all around
\ntown. Cultivars of this species have been produced with everything from bright green to turquoise
\nfoliage, with a few newer cultivars displaying \u201cice-blue\u201d scale-like leaves. The leaves are held close to
\nthe stems in a similar fashion to those seen in our native junipers or, as many central Texans prefer to
\ncall them, cedars, giving the tree a fine, fuzzy texture.
\n(To Be Continued\u2026)<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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