Tilia americana, 2″

Tilia americana, the basswood or American linden, is a medium to large deciduous tree, often growing to 80 to 100 ft tall in the wild.  It is native to east-central North America, from southern Manitoba and Minnesota south to Missouri, the eastward to the Atlantic Piedmont and northward to the Canadian Maritimes.  In its native range, basswood can be found in a variety of habitats, from stream valleys to rocky uplands, but it is most happy in fertile, moist lowlands in slightly alkaline soil.   Pyramidal in youth, given space and room to grow, it typically develops an upright oval crown surrounding a tall single leader.  Unlike many native trees, the American linden tends to retain lower branches as it matures, with those lower branches sweeping towards the ground then upward at the canopy’s edge. Also unlike many natives, it has a good tolerance for partial shade.

Tilia americana, flower buds

In the landscape, T. americana typically tops out at 40-60 feet with a spread of 35-45 feet.  It features 4-8” long-deep green heart-shaped leaves that typically turn a pale yellow in autumn.   Late spring produces an abundance of 2-3” clusters of tiny pale-yellow flowers.   These flowers are extremely fragrant and a favorite of bees, so much that the tree itself can appear to buzz from the mass of bees feeding on the flower nectar.  The resultant linden honey is valued for its unique flavor. The flowers are followed by small grey nutlets which persist into early winter and are a favorite food of songbirds and squirrels. The bark is greenish-grey in color on young stems, turning medium-grey and becoming ridged and furrowed with age.  It is a good choice in a larger landscape, especially when given space for its roots to spread.  It is especially valuable for shade, as the leaf density of T. americana typically produces some of the densest shade of any native tree.  Adequate root space helps basswood to resist leaf scorch, which can affect exposed trees in hot, windy weather.  Tight planting spaces between sidewalk and street can often stress the tree, making it more susceptible to leaf scorch.   Aside from leaf scorch under stress, American linden is fairly resistant to pests; the leaves are a favored food of the Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica), however, which can be unsightly during times of high beetle populations.,

Tilia americana, young bark detail

The wood of T. americana is pale brown; often almost white and occasionally tinged with faint reddish streaks. It is close-grained yet light; these characteristics made it useful for the manufacture of boxes and baskets and also for guitar-making.   It is also a favorite of woodcarvers due to its resistance to splitting.  The inner bark of basswood is stringy and fibrous and was used by Native Americans and early European settlers for rope-making.  Tea made from the leaves was also used as an anti-inflammatory and a mild sedative.

Tilia americana, new growth

White House Natives supplies Tilia americana in 2”and 2½” caliper.   If you need a large tree that produces great shade, it is an excellent choice!

Æsculus parviflora, new growth

For April, we are featuring an under-used performer for the shrub border or high-canopied shady areas, the bottlebrush buckeye, Æsculus parviflora.  One of eight species of buckeye native to North America, it occupies a relatively small native range from the Savannah River west across central Georgia and Alabama and south to the Florida panhandle, but easily adapts to cooler climates as far north as Chicago and Portland, Maine.

Æsculus parviflora, leaf detail

In its native mid-south, Æ. parviflora form dense stands along bluffs and ravines and in high-shaded forests.  Typically maturing at 8 to 12 feet in height, it tends to slowly spread laterally by suckering so that a single individual may cover 25 feet in width at maturity. In the landscape, the coarse texture and smooth light grey bark make an excellent backdrop for smaller shrubs and perennials.   Like most buckeyes, leaves emerge from large buds relatively late in the season; the large, palmate leaves with 5 to 7 leaflets usually provide a dense dark-green cover to the shrub from the ground up.  The showy white flowers, peppered with red anthers, are produced in cylindrical bottlebrush-like spires up to a foot long in early summer when few other plants are in flower. The foliage usually turns a clear butter yellow in early autumn.  Unlike in its native range, Æ. parviflora rarely sets fruit in the landscape.

Æsculus parviflora, flowers

As a landscape plant, bottlebrush buckeye is low-maintenance.  Pruning is rarely required and although suckering, the shrub spreads slowly so that unwanted new shoots can be easily removed.  It has no significant pests, although it can suffer from leaf scorch in prolonged periods of hot, dry weather.  It prefers a moist, well-drained soil in full sun, but is also very tolerant of light shade and can perform well in drier situations if regularly watered for the first few years while becoming established.

Æsculus parviflora, flowers

Like their closest relatives, the maples (Acer); buckeyes contain saponins in their leaves and fruit.  Saponins are defensive compounds that impart a bitter taste thus discouraging browsing.  They are also especially toxic to cold-blooded vertebrates; native Americans used the ground buckeye fruits and other saponin-containing plants to stun fish in ponds and other stagnant bodies of water.  Buckeye fruits (so-called because they are shiny brown with a yellowish attachment scar, much like a deer’s eye) were also commonly used in tanning leather.

White House Natives supplies Æsculus parviflora in sizes from 3 ft to 6 ft.   It is a deserving native that can be a welcome addition to the shrub border.

Pinus virginiana, 8 ft, at the nursery.

February’s Featured Native is Pinus virginiana.  Commonly called Virginia or scrub pine (or Jersey pine in a certain state to our northeast), Pinus virginiana has been a long-ignored native evergreen that has in recent years become more prominent in the naturalized landscape.   With a native range spanning the East Coast from Long Island to the Chesapeake, then southwestward through the Blue Ridge and Great Smokies to the Cumberland Plateau, it is an adaptable and fast-growing species.   Along with P. rigida, the pitch pine, it is a primary species of the well-known Pine Barrens ecological area of southern New Jersey.

In its native range, P. virginiana tends to grow in almost pure stands, usually maturing at 30-60 ft in height.   In the landscape under more ideal conditions, it can grow taller; up to 75 ft.   The largest recorded specimen topped out at 105 ft.  Broadly pyramidal in youth, it tends to grow more contorted with age, developing a broad, flat-topped, irregular, and ragged crown that serves as an interesting focal point in the landscape.   The orange, brown and cinnamon-colored bark and short, sharp, paired needles often lead to confusion with Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine), a poorly-adapted species which was extensively used in the landscape in the first half of the 20th century.   It can be distinguished by its yellow-green, twisted needles and 2½” ovoid cones, compared to the flat, blue-green needles and short, squat cones of P. sylvestris.  Unlike most pines, the cones of Virginia pine develop over two seasons.  The female flowers emerge in the spring and are fertilized by the bright yellow pollen-bearing strobili the following spring, then mature in the autumn.  Cones are produced every year, with some individuals bearing a heavier crop every third year; they can persist on the tree for up to fifteen years.  In good growing situations, the tree can grow to 18 ft in its first ten years and bear cones at five years of age.  Virginia pine is

Pinus virginiana, male flower detail.

especially useful in the landscape due to its tolerance for a variety of soil conditions; while it prefers a well-drained sandy or loamy soil, it can also thrive in drier, rockier soils, albeit with a slower growth rate and is relatively drought-tolerant compared to most evergreens.

Virtually all parts of the tree were used by native Cherokee peoples; tonics from the needles and bark for ailments such as bowel problems, fevers, and tuberculosis, tea from needles steeped in apple juice as a tonic, root tonic as a stimulant, pine tar as a waterproofing agent, and branches in burial rituals.  European settlers found the wood useful for poles and ship masts as unlike most pine, the wood becomes harder and stiffer as it dries due to crystallization of the high pitch content.  Today, P. virginiana is often grown as a Christmas tree and is an important and renewable source of wood pulp for paper-making.

Mature Pinus virginiana in the wild.

In the landscape, Virginia pine is useful as a backdrop to a shrub border, as a provider of high, light shade for annuals and perennials easily scorched by direct sunlight or as a picturesque specimen.  It can be affected by the fungal pathogens Porodaedalea pini and Fusarium moniliforme and insects such as pine beetles and sawflies.   All of these are relatively uncommon in the landscape and can be mitigated by good cultural practices.

White House Natives supplies Pinus virginiana in sizes from 5 ft to 8 ft.  It is a unique and interesting native that deserves a spot in the larger garden.

Ilex verticillata; 3 ft

For December, we’re featuring one of our finest native species for winter interest—the common winterberry (Ilex verticillata).  Native to most of the northeastern third of the United States; from Wisconsin to Maine and south to the Carolinas, Kentucky, and Tennessee, Ilex verticillata is a suckering large multi-stemmed shrub or small tree that finds a happy home in wet areas or in the shrub border.  It typically grows 6 to 15 ft tall in its native environment with a spread equal to its height.  In the wild, it is typically found in stream bottoms and in wetlands, but tolerates drier conditions in the garden with supplemental watering during long dry spells.

Ilex verticillata; 5 ft

Ilex verticillata has small dark-green elliptical leaves, typically 2-3” long.  These leaves usually turn bright golden-yellow in autumn.  Inconspicuous yellow-green flowers appear in late spring.  Properly pollinated, these flowers give rise to numerous ¼” berry-like fruits that closely hug the stems through the winter.  Like most hollies, Ilex verticillata plants are of separate sexes, so a nearby male plant is necessary for fruit set on the female.  But unlike typical hollies, winterberry is deciduous, which only helps to further enhance the display of bright red fruits after leaf fall.  These fruits are a favorite of native songbirds.  The smooth, grey bark provides a nice backdrop to the fruit display.  Tea from the colorful fruits was used as a fever remedy by Native Americans, but can cause nausea and low blood pressure if consumed raw.

Ilex verticillata; fruit detail

In the landscape, winterberry is ideal for swales and drainage areas and works well in the shrub border where it serves as an ideal background to colorful annuals and perennials before coming into its own glory in autumn and early winter.  It prefers full sun or very light shade at the edge of a woodland.   It is virtually pest-free aside from occasional leafspot or leaf mildew during prolonged rainy spells.  Like most water-loving plants, it prefers a neutral to acidic soil.  It is relatively slow-growing and requires only occasional pruning in late winter to maintain shape.

White House Natives supplies Ilex verticillata in a range of sizes including 4 ft, 5 ft, 6 ft, and 7 ft.  If you’re looking for a standout showy shrub for the winter garden, you can do no better!

Nyssa sylvatica, spring.

One of the most up-and-coming native trees over the past twenty years is black gum or tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica).  Native to the United States east of the Mississippi River as well as the Ozark Plateau and from the southern Great Lakes and southern New England to central Florida, Nyssa sylvatica is a versatile larger tree that thrives in a broad range of conditions.  Typically growing 75 to 100 ft tall in its native environment with a straight central leader and a narrow crown of right-angled branches broadening with age, tupelo generally exhibits a more moderate height of 40-50 ft in the cultivated landscape, making an excellent specimen or focal point.  In the wild, it can be found on dry upland slopes and even more frequently in moist valleys and riverbottoms.  In fact, the common name ‘tupelo’ is a corruption of the Muscogee/Creek Native American phrase ito ‘tree’ and opilwa ‘swamp’ or swamp-tree.  In mixed-tree settings, it favors the forest edge, so it likewise prefers full sun to light partial shade in the landscape setting.  Tupelo also has the

Nyssa sylvatica, summer.

distinction of being the longest-lived non-clonal woody plant in eastern North American, with some specimens documented at more than 650 years of age.

Nyssa sylvatica starts the spring with rusty-backed, bright greenish-yellow new growth that matures to very glossy, 2”-5” long dark-green leaves.  The foliage is clean and free of most pests and diseases.  It is typically one of the first trees to show color at the end of the season, with the first tinges often appearing by late August.  Fall foliage is a kaleidoscope of colors, from brilliant gold and fiery orange to pure scarlet and purple.  In winter, the deep-grey to black bark, finely plated like alligator skin, provides a striking contrast on snowy mornings.  Flowers are a inconspicuous greenish-yellow, but are nectar-rich and loved by bees; they make an excellent honey.  The flowers are followed by small, blue-skinned stone fruits, usually in groups of 1-3, which are beloved by many songbirds, especially the American Robin (Turdus migratorius).  Tupelo develops a strong central taproot, so plants for landscape planting are best secured from container culture or B&B nurseries that do regular root pruning, such as WHN.

As a lumber tree, the wood of Nyssa sylvatica is hard, heavy, and very durable; its cross-grain structure makes it very resistant to splitting, especially when cured.  These properties made it a favored wood for early turning parts, such as pulleys, rollers, wheel hubs and weaving shuttles as well as mauls, mallets, yokes and tool handles.  In fact,

Nyssa sylvatica, autumn. Just a sampling of the incredible color display!

its usefulness as a striking tool lead to the local common name in southeast New England of ‘beetlebung’; beetle being an old word for a mallet used to hammer home bungs or plugs for barrels of beer or liquor.  Its resistance to wear and acid made it a popular flooring material for factories.   Today, it is still a favored material for wood-carvers due its tight grain and resistance to splintering.

Nyssa sylvatica, winter, showing the excellent regular branch structure.

White House Natives supplies Nyssa sylvatica in a range of sizes including 1½”, 2”, 2½” and 3” caliper.  It is a beautiful, clean, and disease-free tree that makes a statement in any larger landscape.

Carpinus caroliniana; 2″ at the farm.

Carpinus caroliniana (American hornbeam or musclewood) is an attractive but seldom-utilized native tree that excels in small landscapes, especially in moister and shadier situations.   Native to almost all of the United States east of the Mississippi River save northern Maine and the immediate Gulf Coast, musclewood is a much smaller and more irregular tree than its more commonly cultivated European brother cousin C. betulus.  In the wild, C. caroliniana is most often found in rich, moist woodlands, shady valleys and ravine bottoms and clinging to rocky slopes along stream beds.

In the landscape, musclewood matures to an irregularly-rounded small tree; typically no more than

Carpinus caroliniana; fruit detail.

Young Carpinus caroliniana in a landscape setting.

Carpinus caroliniana; autumn color

25-30 feet in height with an equal or slightly larger spread.  The deep green alternate leaves are 2½ to 4 inches long and half that in width, resembling those of the American beech (Fagus grandifolia), but with distinctively double serrated margins.  The leaves turn a bright clear yellow in autumn, fading to dark orange then brown before falling.   Inconspicuous male and female flowers in spring lead to an attractive fruit consisting of a short pendulous cluster of small nutlets, each subtended by a three-lobed leafy bract.  In winter, the smooth, fluted blue-gray bark becomes the star attraction and the source of both the musclewood name and the older common name of blue beech.  Carpinus caroliniana thrives in the garden in average to moist soils and in partial to semi-dense shade, but excels in moist, acidic situations. It also has a good tolerance for clay soils and is one of the few native plants that can thrive under the canopy of black walnut (Juglans nigra) trees.  Due to its fibrous, spreading roots, transplanting is best accomplished in the spring and when the tree is relatively young.    It is relatively pest-free and tolerant of pruning once established.

Carpinus caroliniana; 2½” at the farm in winter.

Carpinus in general have very strong, dense, almost white heartwood that can be burnished to appear like horn, hence the common name ‘hornbeam’.  The wood was used by early European settlers for bowls, yokes, and tool handles.  The tiny nutlets serve as food source for squirrels and many native songbirds, grouse, and quail while the tree itself is a favored host of several native moths.

We supply Carpinus caroliniana in a range of sizes including 1½”, 2”, 2½” and 3” caliper.  It is an excellent, attractive, and low-maintenance tree that deserves a place in your landscape designs.

Cladrastris kentukea; 2” at the farm.

Cladrastis kentukea (American yellowwood) is possibly the most unique ‘native’ tree of eastern North America.  ‘Native’ because its current range is primarily restricted to scattered outcroppings in the Ozarks and southern Appalachian highlands where it often grows on shady slopes in chalky, limestone-rich soils. Yet the versatility of this woodland specimen to other soil, light and climatic conditions as well as intriguing fossil clues hint at a much broader range before the last ice age covered much of the northeastern United States; a distribution from the Ozarks east to the Atlantic and north to the southern Great Lakes and the Hudson River Valley.  Cladrastis itself is a very small genus; consisting of one species in North America and an additional eight in east Asia.  It is closely related to another genus in the Fabaceae (pea/legume family), Styphnolobium, the pagodatree with which—unlike most legumes—it lacks the root/microbial symbiosis to fix nitrogen in the soil.

Whatever its past—or present—the yellowwood is an outstanding choice for smaller gardens.

Cladrastis kentukea; bark detail

As a landscape plant, Cladrastis kentukea typically matures at 35-50 feet in height with a broad, rounded crown of upright branches.  The smooth, grey bark mimics that of Fagus grandifolia (American beech), only slightly darker in tone.  The pinnate leaves, which resemble Juglans regia (English walnut) are 8-12” long with 7-11 leaflets and emerge a bright yellow-green maturing to dark green before turning a bright clear yellow in autumn. Once the tree reaches a decade or so in age, late spring also brings a mass of intensely fragrant white flowers in pendulous 8-14” racemes. Resembling Wisteria, the flowers are typically more numerous every second or third year.  The flowers are followed by decorative 2-4” brown pods that persist late into the winter.  Cladrastis tolerates a wide variety of soils, but prefers sun or very light shade and ample moisture when young; as it matures, water becomes less of an issue.  The tree is deep-rooted, making it suitable for planting near sidewalks and patios; the deep roots also allow shrubs or perennials to grow under the canopy.  Pruning should be conducted in late winter, before the sap begins to rise as yellowwood tends to ‘bleed’ profusely, like many maple species.

Cladrastis kentukea; flower detail

The common name yellowwood refers to the bright yellow heartwood of the tree; this heartwood yielded an intense yellow dye used by both native Americans and early Appalachian settlers.  Native Americans also used the wood for building and figurative carving, while early settlers prized it for gunstocks. Today, the wood is used for decorative items and woodturning.  The flowers yield abundant nectar and are a favorite of honeybees.

Cladrastis kentukea; autumn color beginning

Cladrastis kentukea is relatively pest-free; with only scattered instances of borers or Verticillium wilt.  Its main weakness is its somewhat brittle wood (hence the genus name: from Greek kládos/κλάδος ‘branch’ and thraústos/θραύστως ‘snap’ or ‘brittle’), so siting in a somewhat sheltered location is preferred.  The tree can also be damaged by heavy ice storms.  It also has a tendency to be low-branched, a problem easily corrected in youth by White House Natives’ rigorous pruning program.  We supply Cladrastis kentukea in a range of sizes including 2”, 2½” and 3” caliper.  We strongly encourage you to make Cladrastis a regular feature of the urban gardens you design and plant.  You will not be disappointed!

Quercus coccinea, 3″

Quercus coccinea (scarlet oak) is another staple of the woodlands of eastern North America.  Often confused with red oak (Q. rubra), black oak (Q. velutina) and especially the closely-related pin oak (Q. palustris), it can be distinguished by its bristle-tipped seven-lobed leaves with broad ‘C’-shaped sinuses, compared to the deeper, ‘U’-shaped sinuses of Q. palustris.  Like the southern red oak (Q. falcata), which we recently featured, it has become more popular in the landscape trade in recent years due to its tolerance of urban conditions.

Quercus coccinea coloring up in mid-autumn.

Growing as tall as 150 feet in its native range—which spans from southern Maine west to Wisconsin and south through Missouri to northern Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia—scarlet oak typically matures at 60-75 feet tall in the landscape with an irregular, rounded crown.  Unlike some of its oak brethren, scarlet oak tends to cast a broken rather than dense shade.  The shiny, dark-green leaves are 5” to 7” long and around 4” wide and color late in the autumn, with a reliable scarlet color that slowly fades to claret then brown as winter progresses.  Acorns are usually around ¾” long, half-covered in a scaly, bowl-like cup; light in most years but with a heavy crop every third or fourth year.  The thin, brownish-grey bark develops broad, widely-spaced ridges with age.

In the wild, scarlet oak is a climax forest species, preferring upland sites with good drainage and often thriving on poorer, rocky, gravelly or sandy slopes.  In the landscape, it is adaptable to a wide variety of conditions, disliking only alkaline soils.  Once established, it exhibits good drought tolerance and is far less prone to chlorosis (leaf yellowing) than its sister species pin oak.  It typically grows quickly when young and usually begins to bear acorns when less than twenty years old.  Scarlet oak makes an ideal shade tree for larger spaces due to its dappled shade which allows a variety of shade-loving shrubs to thrive under its canopy while still receiving filtered sunlight.

Quercus coccinea; fall color detail

Wood from the scarlet oak is often sold as ‘red oak’ in lumber yards.  While not as dense and durable as white oak (Q. alba), the reddish tone and coarse grain of the seasoned wood is valued for cabinetry, furniture and interior detail work.  Like many oaks, dried acorns were leached in water then ground for flour by Native Americans; the acorns are also an important food source for many large native songbirds, grouse, turkey and of course, white-tailed deer and squirrels.

Quercus coccinea in midwinter.

White House Natives supplies Quercus coccinea in a range of sizes including 2”, 2½” and 3” caliper.  As with all our trees, we prune regularly and rigorously, so the trees you receive are ready to make an instant impact on your next project.

Quercus falcata in summer.

Quercus falcata is a little-known species in the mid-Atlantic that has gained in popularity in recent years as a great landscape tree for larger spaces.  Commonly known as southern red oak or Spanish oak (Spanish not because of being native to Spain, but rather because it is a common woodland tree in areas of the country originally ruled by Spain) is native to a broad swath of the southeast, from central New Jersey westward to southern Illinois and Missouri and southward through Oklahoma, Texas and the Gulf Coast as far as central Florida.  Compared with the more-familiar northern red oak (Quercus rubra), Q. falcata has distinctive shiny green leaves with 3-5 deep, sickle-like, bristle-tipped lobes that give an appearance (according to some) not unlike that of a guitar.

The leaves are often somewhat droopy and turn reddish-brown in the autumn, then slowly fall over the winter.

In its native range, the southern red oak prefers well-drained sites and is often found in dry, poor soils where it out-competes many other native hardwoods.  These characteristics make it an ideal specimen for urban and suburban sites where soils have been disturbed and watering may be irregular; once established it is quite tolerant of neglect.

Quercus falcata showing autumn color.

A medium grower, with room it develops an open, irregularly oval crown with the coarse texture typical of red oaks and typically matures at a height of 60-80 feet with a spread two-thirds the height in the landscape. As a shade or specimen tree; southern red oaks typically do not display surface roots and feature well-spaced upright branches, thus allowing activity under the canopy.  The thick, furrowed bark is marked with shallow ridges and brownish-gray to black color adds interest throughout the year.

In southern forests, this species can grow quite large.  The US champion in Upton County, Georgia has a height of 137 feet and a spread of 118 feet with a circumference of 28½ feet.

Historically, the heavy, strong wood of southern red oak was used for fence posts, heating fuel, and general construction.  The coarse grain and open pore structure makes the dried timber useful for fine carpentry as it takes both stain and glue well.  Native Americans used both the acorns and bark for medicinal and occasionally food uses, while the acorns are an important food source for turkey, squirrel, rabbit, white-tail deer and black bears.

Quercus falcata in winter.

White House Natives supplies Quercus falcata in a range of sizes including 2”, 2½” and 3” caliper.  All sizes are part of our regular and rigorous pruning program, so the trees you receive are landscape ready and are sure to make an impression on your next project.

Quercus falcata; leaf.

Betula nigra, or river birch, is a fast-growing shade and ornamental tree. Indigenous to the eastern United States, from coastal New Hampshire west to Minnesota and south to eastern Texas and northern Florida, river birch prefers swampy areas, bottomlands and stream banks in its native range. It can grow as a single-stemmed specimen or as a multi-trunked clump. Pyramidal in form when young, it develops a rounded irregular crown when mature, topping out at 40 to 70 feet in height.

River birch provides year-round interest in the landscape; bright green spring growth matures to 2-3” long leathery, dark green, diamond-shaped, toothed leaves which often turn brilliant yellow in the autumn. Its peeling pinkish-brown to black-brown bark exfoliates to reveal shades of peach and cream. Short green and brown catkins appear in spring as well.

Although river birch prefers moist environments in the wild, it is tolerant of drier conditions when established and is relatively free of the pests and diseases that affect non-native Betula species. It also performs well in urban environments. It can exhibit chlorosis in alkaline soils, but this can be corrected by applications of chelated iron or other products to lower soil pH. It is an excellent choice for streambank and wetlands restoration projects.

Betula nigra sap was used by Native Americans and early settlers as a sweetener, similar to maple sap. Because of this heavy sap flow, pruning should be avoided in the late winter and early spring.

White House Natives sells 3- and 5-stem Betula nigra in sizes from 8 ft to 14 ft and single-stem specimens from 2” to 4” caliper. We stake and prune our trees for even branching and limb them up from two to four feet depending on size to show off their exfoliating bark. Many good cultivars are sold by other nurseries in the trade, but WHN focuses on growing the straight species.