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In this issue:
Conifers: Making spirits bright
Plants in holiday lore
Telling pine from spruce or fir, hemlock or yew
Telltale conifer names
Scrub & screen, grin & grow-an
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Image overview of issue 72
If you think that color in a garden comes only during
the growing season, you're focusing too much attention on
flowers. There are winter blooming plants even in zone 5
where we garden, such as spring witchhazel shrubs
(Hamamelis vernalis and H. mollis hybrids; below, left) and
the perennials called Christmas rose and lenten rose
(Helleborus species; below, right). Yet it will be months
before their color registers on the scene.
In the meanwhile, evergreens rule
supreme, alone or in combinations like this gold juniper and
concolor fir combination, below. In this issue are tips for telling
one conifer from another, so you can identify what looks good
now and know what to shop for next spring.
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Conifers have so many forms and
hues! In every group of evergreens, from arbs to yews, there are
varieties with different and variegated foliage color. It can be
bewildering to sort them out. So, when I see one I like, my first
move is to determine which group it belongs to. Download the
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Can you name these groups?
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key.
If it looks like a Christmas tree,
you're wise to check for a match among pines, spruces and firs. You
can pick out a pine by looking for those with needles arranged in
bunches.
Pine (Pinus) needles are attached
to the stem in groups. Each packet has 2- to 5 needles, the number
determined for each plant by its species' genes. On the left in
this photo is a twoneedle pine species and on the right, a 5-
needle species. There are a few exceptional pines, species with
single needles or needles in sixes.
Deviations are to be expected in this large genus, which has
110 species, triple the number in Picea (spruce), the next
biggest conifer group.
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pdf to read more in the complete text of this issue.
If the needles are singly-borne,
then it's probably not a pine but a spruce (Picea) or fir
(Abies).
Look at needle shape, plus how they are arranged on and attached
to the branch.
At top in this picture is a fir.
Its needles are flat, while the spruce needles below it are four
sided. A fir's typical needle arrangement is like teeth of
a double-sided comb. Compare that to the spruce, with its needles
spirally arranged all 'round the twig.
Most telling of fir or spruce,
each fir needle is attached to its branch within a circular
depression. When the needle is shed, the entire needle
drops away leaving the depression smooth. On the other hand,
spruces have hard projections on the twig and one needle
arises from each of these "pulvini." The needle I pulled from this
twig has its honey-brown pulvinus attached. When a spruce
needle is shed, its pulvinus remains. So a spruce twig which has
lost its needles is covered in picky nibs.
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issue.
Junipers (Juniperus),
falsecypresses (Chamaecyparis) and arborvitae (Thuja) do not have
needles. They have tiny leaves, which sets them apart from pine,
fir or spruce.
I've pulled away one segment from
each of the twigs in this photo. Some people think these are
individual needles but they are not. Each is a tiny twig covered
with even tinier leaves.
On the left, the falsecypress'
leaves are pointed -- awlshaped. On the right, the twig is covered
in scale-like leaves. Most arborvitae have only scale-like leaves
on a plant, while junipers and falsecypresses may have both types
on one plant -- scale-shaped leaves on their blooming-age branches
(mature wood) and awl-shaped on wood that's not ready to flower
(juvenile).
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Fruits will help you separate
juniper from arb or falsecypress. Junipers produce "berries."
Arborvitaes and falsecypresses bear cones.
At left , a juniper species with
smooth, dark blue fruits and another with lumpier, grayer fruits.
Juniper berries do not ever take on the brown, scaly appearance
most often associated with cones.
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Below: Arborvitae, its cones still
green. As they ripen they will become brown and separate at the
seams
Fruits are the giveaway between
yew and hemlock, as well.
Yew (Taxus) is on the left in the picture
above, and hemlock (Tsuga) is on the right.
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Hemlocks have cones
(left). Yew seeds form in red, berry-like structures.
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The berry-bearing yew pictured here is a female. It is also
a particularly desirable hedge plant, as are female
hollies. In part, that's because of the attractive berries.
Even more, it's because the female plant devotes
energy to fruit production at the expense of other growth.
They extend their branches a bit less each year than
their male counterparts. So they remain in shape
longer after a clipping!
Top, pines in an all-gold form,
variegated gold and green types, and solid green. Bottom, some
evergreens' gold and white tissue takes on an amber or pink tinge
during winter.
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pdf for the complete illustrated text.
Below, One section of the
extensive dwarf conifer collection at Michigan State University's
Hidden Lake Gardens near Tipton, Michigan. Look, choose
one you like, read the tag - simple plant ID! (In answer to
deer-plagued, observant readers: Yes, that is an electric
fence around the collection. It's the inner fence of two.)
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