Arboreal Americans: Unusual and Valuable Trees in Old House Landscapes

Unusual and valuable trees may already exist on an old-house landscape.

By Guy Sternberg

	Bigtooth aspen is a tenacious tree that thrives in dry soils. It stands out in spring for its woolly new growth. Photo Courtesy of Guy Sternberg

When you buy an old house, you may get a well-coifed landscape of Japanese maples or elegant aged Scots pines. More likely, you will find a bargain basement of seemingly ill-mannered volunteer trees that might tempt you to hire that neighbor guy with the brush hog. Not so fast.

I'm a huge fan of our American native trees. They have lived with our evolving climate, soils, and wildlife since the last Ice Age, and they are neither invasive of new habitats nor likely to turn up dead after the next unusually hard winter. Unfortunately, a lot of them are getting squeezed off our landscapes by non-native species to the point that we assume anything growing without human intervention is a weed. Our old native trees, like our classic American houses, are worthy of respect and protection.

Ever since I coauthored a book on the topic in 1995, at least once a month someone asks me What's your favorite native tree? I usually tell them, The last one I saw, because I really have no favorites. Every species has its virtues and its place.

We all probably know sugar maples, white oaks, and some other notable species. But there are some great native trees not all that well known, and one of them might be hiding incognito right in your yard. Unless you see them in bloom, or with fruits, you might never guess who they are. For that matter, you might not know them even if they lay all their cards on the table. So if you have an old house with some unfamiliar trees, assume they are something special until proven otherwise, because you just might be right. Here are a few of these less common native trees to watch for.

Woolly Bumelia (Bumelia lanuginosa) This long-lived tree is inconspicuous, but once established, it's impervious to drought, insects, and diseases. Its strong wood is resistant to storm damage. Bumelia will thrive in wet soil or on barren rocky bluffs, in sun or partial shade, and will tolerate road salt, heat, and drought with impunity. Its leaves cling into late fall in the North, and may be semievergreen in the South. Because the leaves are small, and the olivelike fruits are edible and usually devoured by wildlife, they cause no major litter problems.

Hornbeams (Carpinus caroliniana, Ostrya virginiana) Our native species commonly known as hornbeams have divided their territory peacefully, with American hornbeam (Carpinus) holding the low ground and hop hornbeam, or ironwood (Ostrya), claiming the higher sites. Both are strong, hard-wooded, clean-looking trees with fine texture and graceful form. They tolerate shade or sun, cast no significant litter, and are attractive in all seasons. American hornbeam spans latitudes from northern Ontario through northern Florida and eastern Texas, extending through the mountains of Mexico and Guatemala to Honduras. The natural range of ironwood extends to the northeast (New Brunswick) and to the northwest (Manitoba), and is absent only from the southern Atlantic Coastal Plain in the eastern United States.

Mockernut Hickory (Carya tomentosa) Any of the dozen native hickories in North America make great trees. Mockernut is tall and hard-wooded with outstanding gold fall color and a pleasant nutmeg aroma when the leaves or nuts are rubbed. It grows naturally on dry sites, and is best preserved in place wherever it is found since it is nearly impossible to transplant. If this weren't the case, nurseries would be selling thousands because they're excellent trees for shade, fall color, strength, and wildlife.

Dwarf Hackberries (Celtis tenuifolia, C. reticulata) Dwarf hackberries are compact species of dry cliffs and stony ridges that make beautiful, picturesque specimens for the small yard or terrace. Both of these smaller hackberry species (Celtis tenuifolia in the East, C. reticulata in the West) are great for wildlife and tough as nails. Many birds eat their berries during fall migration as do mammals in winter, and the densely interwoven twigs offer protective nesting territory. Hackberry leaves are food for many butterflies. They also are good food for the soul, since they survive everything that nature tosses their way. Their intricate branching and light grey bark give them winter interest as well.

Fringe Tree (Chionanthus virginicus) The scientific name translates to snow flower, and the pure white fragrant blossoms signal the closure of spring and onset of summer. They are wispy and cloudlike, and brilliant against dark foliage in the low, warm side lighting of the rising sun. At night during peak bloom, this tree looks almost ethereal when illuminated by a full moon, although car headlights scanning the edge of a curved driveway can be almost as magical. Old trees form irregular, spreading crowns. Fringe tree fruits (found only on female trees) are among the favorite foods of wild turkeys and many other birds.

Swamp Privet (Forestiera acuminata) This obscure small tree is almost unknown in cultivation except where transplanted from nearby wild stands or from farther away by plant collectors. Generally shrubby in the wild, it's related to olives (Olea spp.) and a mature specimen looks similar to an olive tree. It has smooth grey bark on all but the largest stems; stone fruits about the size and shape of a wild European olive; small, opposite leaves; and a picturesque crown. While it does just fine in average garden soil, it has a special ability to survive in poorly drained sites that can be submerged for nearly the entire growing season.

Osage-orange (Maclura pomifera) Osage-orange generally is a medium-sized tree, becoming stout and often quite artistic with age. This species displays considerable genetic variation. Thorny ancestors were used for hedgerows more than a century ago, but many are relatively or completely thornless. Female trees produce pebbly surfaced, grapefruit-sized chartreuse hedge-apples that can fall with sufficient force to dent the roof of a car, while males are safer to keep around houses and more tolerant of the impacts of nearby construction than most other trees. Osage-orange is a wind-resistant, drought-resistant, disease- and insect-resistant, pollution- and salt-resistant survivor with considerable aesthetic potential, needing only to be tamed with selective pruning. Mature specimens can become the visual focal points of residential landscapes. You can choose thornless male cultivars to plant, but this species may serve best when picturesque old trees are preserved.

Bigtooth Aspen (Populus grandidentata) Much better adapted to dry, disturbed sites and hotter conditions than the common quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) is bigtooth aspen. The two are easy to distinguish in early spring because bigtooth aspen is later to leaf out, and because its new foliage is covered with a white wool that looks like cotton balls throughout the tree's crown. Both species have attractive light bark and amazing fall color. Bigtooth aspen can be tenacious. A bushy specimen has been growing on the tile roof of the Decatur County Courthouse in Indiana since 1870, with its roots sustained only by the windblown dust that accumulates in the cracks between the tiles.

Swamp Chestnut Oak (Quercus michauxii) It's difficult to select only one of our 80 or so native oaks, but this is one superior in almost every way, yet little known in the nursery trade. Adaptable to many soils, including even those under water during flood season, it makes a terrific yard tree. Swamp chestnut oak may have the most brilliant combination of scarlet fall foliage and striking whitened bark of any oak. It grows straight and tall to immense size. The tallest of all U.S. National champion oaks is a swamp chestnut in a forest opening in Fayette County, Alabama, rising 156' on a clear trunk more than 5' thick.

Guy Sternberg's expanded book, with Jim Wilson, Native Trees for North American Landscapes, was due out in January from Timber Press.

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