What's in Bloom
Bloom Highlights
Alnus subcordata
Caucus Alder
Native to Georgia, Azerbaijan, and northern Iran, this tree is found in forested coastal areas, river valleys, and gorges. It is a medium-to-large deciduous tree with a conical to broadly oval canopy shape. The young branches are covered in a thick layer of fine hair that they lose as they mature. The leaves are medium green, glossy, and ovate to elliptic in shape with margins that vary from crenate to singly or doubly serrate. There are separate male and female flowers amalgamated into two different inflorescences called catkins. The male catkins are long, slender, and pendulous, and are made up of many tiny, apetalous flowers. The female catkins are shorter, ellipsoid, and woody (sometimes referred to as cones) and point out and up from the branches either as a single catkin or in a cluster of up to five catkins. The male catkins persist until spring, but the female catkins persist for up to two years. The genus name is the Latin name for alder, while the specific epithet means “about cordate” or “almost heart-shaped” referencing the shape of the leaf blade base.
Pinus banksiana
Jack Pine
This plant is native to sandy plains and forests of much of the northern Great Lakes region to New England north into Canada from the Northwest Territories to Nova Scotia. Of all the native pines, this is the northernmost growing. It grows in a rough pyramidal shape, but as the tree reaches maturity, its shape becomes more irregular due to upper branches shading out lower ones. The needles are bundled in pairs and are olive green, stiff, and short. They take on a hint of yellow in the winter. The cones develop over two years and either ripen and open before falling off or stay closed, grey, and highly curved. These cones will persist for more than ten years. The closed cones have been known to open only after a forest fire to release seeds for new growth. The genus name comes from the Latin name for pine, while the epithet honors Joseph Banks, the first director of Kew Gardens in England in 1772 and a botanist, naturalist, and explorer.
Rhus typhina
Staghorn Sumac
Native to eastern North America from Quebec and Georgia in the east westward to Minnesota and Iowa, it is found on the edges of hardwood forests, dry uplands, and stream and swamp margins. The shrub’s structure is upright and spreading with an open habit. The young branches are clad in light greyish-brown bark that is densely pubescent with short, fine hairs. As they mature, the bark becomes smooth and scaly. The leaves are green with a little bit of gloss and are pinnately compound with 11 to 31 lanceolate leaflets that have serrate margins. They turn a range of dark reds to oranges to deep golden yellows in the autumn. The ends of young branches produce dense panicles of small greenish-white flowers. The shrubs are diecious. In the autumn, the female plants produce showy clusters of bright red, hairy, drupe fruits that turn dark red and persist throughout winter. The genus name comes from the Greek word rhous, which was their name for this plant. The specific epithet comes from Latin meaning “resembling Typha,” because their shared fuzzy appearance is like the velvet that covers a stag’s antlers.
Rosa setigera
Prairie Rose
This rose is native to a broad swath of central and eastern North America from Texas and Nebraska in the west through Wisconsin and southern Ontario in the north to New Hampshire in the east southward to northern Florida. It is found in a wide range of habitats like forests and woodlands, prairie thickets and shrub meadows, and stream banks and bluffs. This plant can either grow as shrub with arching branches or—if given the opportunity—it will climb and twine up a structure. The stems are a greenish-red with smooth, glossy bark that grows thick, straight, or slightly curved prickles. The dark green, leathery leaves are palmately compound with three leaflets that are ovate with serrate margins. The petiole of the terminal leaflet is always longer than the lateral two. In autumn, the leaves turn a range of colors from purply-red to bronze-yellow before falling off. Clusters of five petaled, mildly fragrant, light pink flowers are produced in summer. In early autumn, their pome-type fruit called rosehips develops. The fruits are small, dark red, and persist into winter. The genus name, Rosa, is the Latin name for this plant and was borrowed from the Greek word rhódon, meaning “rose.” The specific epithet is Latin, meaning “bearing bristles,” referring to the prickle-covered stems. Note: due to habitat loss in Ontario, it has been listed as a species of concern.
Salix alba ‘Flame’
Flame Willow
Salix alba is native to temperate regions of northern Africa and much of temperate mainland Europe and Central Asia. It is commonly found along riverbanks, lakeshores, and in wetlands and floodplains. In the wild, this plant grows as a large, sometimes multi-stemmed tree with a rounded, weeping canopy. In horticultural settings, this plant is often coppiced back yearly to create shrubs from the new year’s growth. In the growing season, the young shoots are yellow-green and smooth. If they are allowed to mature, they will produce light brown, corky bark with ridges. The leaves are medium to dark green on top with downy undersides that give a silky white appearance. The leaves are lanceolate with serrate margins and turn golden yellow in the autumn. In early spring, male and female catkins are produced on separate plants. The male catkins are comprised of many flowers with fine white hairs, while the female catkins are small and inconspicuous. This cultivar is noted for its bright, boldly colored winter epidermis. In the winter, the twigs at their base are orange and gradually turn red at the tips. The genus name is the Latin name for willow, while the specific epithet means “white,” in reference to the silvery-white undersides of the leaves.