Category: Trees & Shrubs | Accent on Natural Landscaping

NASA GLOBE Observer App

August 19, 2019

NASA would like your help in measuring the Earth’s trees using the NASA GLOBE Observer app on your smart phone.

In September 2018, NASA launched an instrument, via the ICESat-2 satellite, called ATLAS which measures many ecological surfaces to determine the health of the world’s resources. This laser-like device measures the satellite’s position, the angle and how long it takes the laser beam to bounce back from the surface it is measuring. They’ve been measuring the elevation of the Earth’s ice, land, water, clouds, and now trees. Here’s where citizen scientists come in.

NASA would like citizen scientists to help validate the tree measurements they are taking from space. By knowing the height of trees, researchers can estimate the health of the Earth’s forests and calculate the amount of carbon dioxide they store.

NASA GLOBE Observer App

The NASA GLOBE Observer app is user-friendly. Besides measuring trees, among other things, it also measures the landscape around you and mosquito habitats. It has a tutorial and helpful hints.

Once you’ve selected your straight tree and staked out a spot about 25 to 75 feet away, you hold the phone in front of your face and angle it to measure the base and then to the tree’s top. Then you take a picture, count your steps to the tree, log your position at its base and the app will calculate the tree’s height. (Verge)

Thanks to the Ecological Landscape Alliance (ELA) for making me aware of this great app.

Dogwoods – Part 2

August 7, 2019

I love the contrasting colors of the Red Twig Dogwood (*Cornus sericea*) against a dark green evergreen tree. Red and green is my favorite color combination.

Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea)

Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea), often referred to as Red Twig Dogwood is another striking shrub because of the red highlights in its growth. This multi-stemmed shrub has red stems which are at their most brilliant in the late winter when the sun begins to shine longer in anticipation of spring.

Like all dogwoods, it has clusters of white flowers. These flat-topped blossoms produce pea-sized bluish-white drupes beloved by birds and small critters alike. It can handle full sun or part shade. Its oval and sometimes lance-shaped leaves turn shades of red and burgundy in the fall. How could one find a more colorful shrub.

As mentioned in Dogwoods – Part 1, Red Twig Dogwood makes a great border plant. It also seems to be able to handle our clay, often soggy, soils well.

A Shortcoming

Of all the dogwoods, Red Twig seems to be most susceptible to disease; namely, leaf and twig blight, canker and leaf spots, and scale.

How to tell dogwood leaves from non-native Buckthorn leaves?

A little fact shared with me by Don Vorpahl* who helped me with the design of my prairie some 30 years ago. If you slowly, but strongly, pull a bit of dogwood leaf from the stem of the leaf, it will show a strand of filament still attached to the main stem. Buckthorn, or any other leaves, for that matter will not show a filament.

See also US Forest Services’ Plant of the Week Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea L ssp sericea) for a more complete explanation about how to identify dogwoods.

*Don Vorpahl was one of the first native landscape designers in Wisconsin. See his article entitled “Planting A Woodland” in the Wild Ones book Landscaping with Native Plants.

Dogwoods – Part 1

August 5, 2019

The other day my husband John and I were having breakfast on the deck, overlooking the prairie, and he asked “are those red things on the dogwood berries?” Nope, they were not, but from a distance the bright red stems left from the Pagoda Dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) fruits sure did stand out.

Pagoda Dogwood (Cornus alternifolia)

I love the distinctive branching pattern of the Pagoda Dogwood. It branches horizontally in a distinct tiered appearance, growing much wider than it is tall. It reminds me of a Japanese Garden.

Like all dogwoods, it has clusters or panicles of four-petaled flowers in the spring which form berries or drupes. Its berries are bluish-black in color with red flower stalks or peduncles. It’s clusters of creamy white flowers are flat-topped. They ripen in July. Later in the fall, the dark green oval leaves, which alternate on the stem (unlike other dogwoods), turn a lovely shade of reddish burgundy. It can handle full sun, but also likes part shade.

Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa)

I love all the dogwoods, but I think Gray Dogwood is my favorite. It’s white, dome-shaped clusters of flowers in the spring, followed by white berries on those beautiful red stems in summer are so striking. Unfortunately, the berries don’t last long once the birds find out they’re ready for harvesting!

That grayish bark stands out amidst its lance-shaped leaves which grow opposite each other on the branch. Like all dogwoods, each leaf will have three or four curved veins per side which are slightly parallel to the curved edges of the leaf. They are dark green on top and lighter green and hairy on the bottom. In the fall, the Gray Dogwood leaves will turn a sort of purplish red in color.

A Great Border Shrub

Gray Dogwood (*Cornus racemosa*) is a good shrub for a border or a hedgerow.

We have Gray Dogwood growing at the back (south boundary) of our prairie, where it gets lots of sun. It makes a great border and as I’ve already mentioned in a previous post, is an important element of any hedgerow. It is striking mixed in with American Highbush Cranberry (Viburnum tirlobum), Wild Plum, Red Twig Dogwood (Cornus sericea) and some Cupplant (Silphium perfoliatum) for good measure. All these native plants seem to do well in the sometimes soggy soil of the back boundary of our prairie.

Fauna

Any of the dogwoods are a great nectar and pollen source for a huge variety of insects, as well as a food source for many more insects, larvae and caterpillars. Birds nest in their dense branches which are opposite branching. Their berries are eaten by a variety of birds and small animals and its leaves and branches are eaten by Cottontail Rabbit and White-Tailed Deer. It is very definitely a highly desirable plant for any well-intentioned habit.

If the conditions are just right, sometimes the dogwoods have blossomed twice for us during the year. That’s an extra treat for both us and the birds.

What’s been Blooming in my Yard

July 3, 2019

Despite the rainy weather we’ve been having, there are many plant species blossoming in my yard which makes for a grand feast for a variety of insects.