The Flowering Dogwood - diamond in the rough

Today was an exceptional day in that the Dogwood was flowering in abundance in the forest after the rains finally ended. I thought they were about bloomed out before the rains but the trees budded again and we have a fresh but short span of time to enjoy them again. The trees are seen at the edge of the forest on Gosling and on the edge of George Mitchell's Preserve.

Its red berries in the fall make it an all around show tree. It is small and lives in the shade. thriving in half shade areas such as found on the edge of a forest or in a small clearing, but will do fine even in motley shade.

If you cannot identify a white blooming tree in the Spring, try this one first. It is abundant in our East Texas forests. It has a distinct bloom easily identified.


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Many white Blooms, many species

Here in The Woodlands, we have a wide variety of white blooming understory trees. Right now, we see the end the blooming season for Dogwoods and are at the height of the blooming season for several varieties including the Fringetree and the Hawthorne. Today, we focus on the Fringetree also known as "Old Man's Beard" which we see blooming all over our community. I prefer calling it Old Man's Beard. A person can drive down almost any main road artery and observe this tree amongst others in the forest, including Woodlands Parkway, Panther Creek, and Grogan's Mill.
Understory trees almost always do better exposed to a half a day of sun, so they thrive on the boundary of wooded areas. Unlike its competitor, the Hawthorne, this is a tree with large leaves, having a crown more like a larger tree, reaching up and out. The Hawthorne on the other hand is more social and stays lower like a spiny bush. Both have a blooming cycle peak at about the same time.

Its flowers as you can see are like fringe hanging on a skirt and tend to droop, giving the appearance of human hair from a distance, thus the beard. Interestingly enough, the heavy bloomer of this species is the male. These photos are male specimens. Now you know why I prefer the name "Old Man's Beard". The tree produces blue berry fruit in the fall. It is slow growing and can be easily smothered by other brush-like plants. Like all white blooming plants, it has survived over the ages in the forest by attracting butterflies, bees and other pollinators using its bright flowers to stand out, like a shining gem in the forest. White reflects all the available light whereas dark flowers absorbs the light, making them less visible.

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Yaupon - One necessary component of the understory

We are The Woodlands. I know, we are a master planned community, and we have a forest. I think I would have preferred a name such as "The Forest", but that would not be inclusive of the savannahs we have, so "The Woodlands" is probably more appropriate. We do have savannahs alongside our creek beds.

Today we focus on an understory tree or bush of the forest, the Yaupon.
It is flowering time for this tree. Time to start making berries again. Technically, the Yaupon is not considered a bush, even though it has some characteristics of one. This is an understory tree that sets us apart from the piney wood forests.

This decorative plant is notorious for its density, its sharp branches, and its very red berries. It's density is great for protecting wildlife. It is the reason we have so many deer and other animals in this area. The tree propagates through its roots and its berries. But the seeds are not easy to sprout without birds carrying them and excreting them in various locations. Once established, one tree spreads and thickens in a few years, providing a barrier to light and helps reduce sound from carrying through the forest at ground level. Two birds are really good at spreading their seeds - the Robin and the Cedar Waxwing. These migratory birds come through here each Spring and Fall, eating the berries in both directions, but primarily when returning from the south. The berries seem to be the favorite of Robins until they are able to find some protein in the grass. Cedar Waxwings are more known for their voracious berry appetite, but usually the Robins arrive earlier than the Waxwings.
Its berries are not only for the birds! There are several creatures like the squirrel, which forage on these berries. In the Spring, some of the berries can go uneaten and they turn into hard black seeds. A few birds will eat these seeds, another means of propagation.

One can reforest an area by transplanting the small shoots coming off of roots, or making cuttings. Actually, this method may be preferred over seeding or buying the plants and planting them because one can choose which gender to have. If one plants a cutting of a Yaupon with berries, one will have berries on the result. Some say to use a root stimulator to get the cuttings to grow some roots. The primary strategy is to plant when the season turns cool, in early December or late November. That will give the tree some time to root before the heat puts much stress on the emerging root system.

When reforesting, please do not forget to add this plant to the landscape.

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Parsley Hawthorne Tree - in spectacular bloom.

It may be raining now, but before it started, I got out to take a few photos of this lovely tree in full bloom.

There were rain drops on the lens at one point. This native tree is one of several species that shows off in the understory of the forest. Combined with its intense colors in the fall, this tree really is a gem in the forest.

It does like the sun but does well in a marble light as well. We find the tree throughout The Woodlands.

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Yellow Yellow everywhere! Woodlands Pine Pollen and Allergies

Take a deep breath or not? What damage can all this stuff do to a house or automobile? Each Spring we see a great deal of evidence that the pines are blooming. On top of that, we have other trees pollinating at the same time. Do our air conditioners filter the stuff out in the house? I suppose I am not the only person to ask these questions. We see this stuff on top of water, on our cars, all over everything!

As it turns out, the Pine Tree emits a pollen that is extraordinarily large and heavy, covered with a substance that makes it less of a threat to humans with allergies than the other tree pollens. Those pollens we can't see are typically worse for those who have allergies. Pine pollen is colorful but aggravating as a dust and probably not a risk to us. It's yellow color comes from it's sulfate content, as one might expect. Logically, we reason that if everything is covered in a yellow substance and that substance is pine pollen, we would be putting the material in our lungs also. That would be true, but not in the volume we might expect by what we observe. Once the material falls, it is unlikely to be inhaled, although it is being blown about on the ground. It is just too heavy to be effectively lifted back up to our nostrils. The pollen is 50-90 micro-meters in diameter, 2-3 times the size of the pollens which tend to stimulate our histamine reactions, which we commonly know as an "allergy". Each pollen grain has a very small amount of allergen, so the combination of an abundance of the grains in the air, the specific allergen itself and personal reactivity to the allergen, all combine to form individual allergic reactions.¹ Saying all of this, there are disagreements as to how well the wind lifts and propels the pine pollen. It is said that pollen travels hundreds of miles in some cases. In our case,I would tend to say that almost all of it rests nearby the source.
Would it be surprising to find out that the pollen is actually considered a healthy product to consume? Yep, all that yellow powder is considered by some as healthy stuff to eat. It is purported to be a remedy for all sorts of things. Personally, I would not say it is or isn't a remedy or treatment for such conditions as osteoporosis or chronic arthritis or Fibromyalgia, or regulates the immune or cardiology systems. There are probably some of you out there who has an opinion on the health aspect of consuming honey made from pine pollen or the use of a pollen extract supplement. If so, please leave us your comment.

In regard to an automobile, the only advice I could come up with is to make sure you rinse the car first and not scrub the auto with the pollen present. It is abrasive material. Running or strenuous work outside? Just common sense. I would take certain precautions to not inhale much air during the time when the pines are pollinating, mostly because of the other allergens in the air at the same time, not specifically because of the pine pollen itself, unless tests have found you to be allergic to the pine pollen. If you are allergic to pollens, you should pay attention to the count by weather forecasters.

When we look at the blooms on the trees, what do we see at this time of year? Something very elegant for both the female and male parts of a tree! The male cones are where the pollen is disseminated and combined with the female cone, is how the tree propigates.

References

¹Sampter's Immunologic Diseases

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Mirror mirror on the wall, which house is fairest of them all?

Have you ever strolled down the street and discovered something worthy of a special photograph? Every year, I pass by this place and see something different. This time I was enamored with this particular home on a cul-de-sac corner in Indian Springs. It would be just another well-kept house except for this natural photo frame produced by the early blooms and seeds of a native tree. A customized wooden structure is nice to see, but when it is placed in the beauty of The Woodlands, it can be spectacular! I hope you agree with me. I rarely find anything that greatly eclipses the beauty and peacefulness of this particularly exceptional Spring moment. This underscores the rationale of choosing native vegetation for home landscapes. Like normal, you might want to view this in more detail by clicking on the photo.

Sweetgum Tree

Isn't it strange how we love the unnatural and the things that make our lives more exotic? We love those things that are the prettiest as well those things that are the most comfortable to us. Now what has those statements got to do with the Sweetgum tree?

I recall a related statement from a neighbor once when she cut down all the natural vegetation in her yard. Who needs Yaupon, pine trees, Sweetgums, and other native plants or trees? All of this is soooo blah, "I need a theme in my yard!" So she made it tropical! Banana trees and palms. Perfect for an east Texas forest? There was no food for the birds in her yard. Somehow, maybe she may have not even realized there were birds out there. It was as unnatural as she could possibly make it. The theme went with her swimming pool. Let's make this a paradise on the sea shore. We'll pretend. She moved away and now we live with her carnage.

Now you get my gist. I had someone recently say "I hate Sweetgum trees". This tree is very common here in our forests. Like other native species, there is a reason for it being here. I don't like walking barefooted and stepping on the Sweetgum pods any more than the "hater" of the tree. When green, the spiny pods are not so irritating but after drying, they fall to the ground for months afterward, and their spines are needle sharp and hard. This tree is considered to be ornamental. It grows well in marshes such as we have in abundance here in The Woodlands. A tree 100 feet tall is not rare. These trees will help form the highest canopy over the forest right with the Long Leaf pines, some 150 feet! Taken out of the forest canopy, their roots more exposed to the sun, they have a difficult time during drought periods. Myself? I encourage this tree to be cultivated and planted with the pines, especially in wet locations. I have several thriving in my yard, one from a seedling. I love diversity. This tree adds so much life to our forests! It is one of the reasons we are called "The Woodlands".


This tree is regarded as an ornamental for several reasons. In the fall, they are quite colorful. See my fall leaf display. In the early summer, the star shaped leaves are quite showy. Right now, in the early Spring? This is the reason I am publishing this article. This tree often gets overlooked. You will see little green "things" all over the ground near this tree right now. If you look closely, you will see what I saw through this photograph - an early blooming tree, showing how it creates its spiny pods. There are even colors in its unusual and ornate blooms on the ends of the tree branches.

As implied by the name, the tree bark has been used extensively for chewing gum by native Indians and settlers. The pods have been used for medicinal purposes and by the way, make a great Christmas tree ornament. Its wood is used for building structures. Let's tolerate that which we don't like and find reasons to live in harmony with nature. This tree demands and deserves our respect. Issues with the water table here in The Woodlands will eventually eliminate most of these trees in my opinion. Combined with drought, tree removal and the landscape engineering of the environment by man, our forest is bound to change to something much less interesting than what evolved or was created here over the ages.

Texas Game and Wildlife article quoting IndianSpringsGuy (Randy Scott)