Interesting bark

The Black cherry is an important southern tree for both wild life and commercially. Young black cherries tend to have a conical crown but when given enough room, the mature trees develop long limbs and arching branches giving it an oval shaped crown. The Black cherry’s fall foliage is a golden…

Oakleaf Hydrangea, the quintessential flowering shrub for the native garden, is a deciduous shrub native to our southeastern states with outstanding ornamental value. Its growth form is broad, rounded, with lower stems sweeping the ground; with beautiful exfoliating bark and bold, handsomely lobed, deep green leaves, holding aloft great pyramidal, fragrant…

Coralberry is a very showy colonial shrub native in the eastern and central United States, as well as central Canada (Ontario) and northeastern Mexico. It reaches 4+ feet, with smooth, opposite, dull green, oval-shaped leaves and shreddy bark. Greenish white flowers are tucked under the leaves in early summer, developing later…

Pond Cypress is a deciduous conifer of our Southeastern states which roughly resembles (and is considered by some to be a variety of) Taxodium distichum, or Bald Cypress (See our entry for T. distichum). There are similarities between the two, such as their amazing soil moisture adaptability from standing water to…

Many people know Mountain Laurel as a stunning native shrub which is a spectacular sight in our mountains in May and June, but many don’t realize that it also grows in rocky floodplains of our rivers in the piedmont. Since we collect our seed from natural stands on the Haw River,…

American Beech is one of the most beloved trees of Eastern North America, a late-successional tree reported in many counties of NC from the mountains to the coast. It is a medium to large tree, growing usually to 80 feet (but observed also at 100 feet tall or more), and can…

Hypericum frondosum, or Golden St. Johnswort (the species) is a small, semi-woody shrub which grows in states all across the Southeast, but is not common. In NC, it is reported to occur in only two counties (in the mountains). Nevertheless, it thrives in our hot and humid piedmont, and should be…

Swamp Titi is an extremely interesting and underused shrub or small tree for our area. It grows to perhaps 20 feet (more often 12-15 feet) and can be described as having both lustrous evergreen or tardily deciduous leaves and colorful fall foliage! Its trunk(s) and branches are very nicely contorted, with…

Eastern persimmon is a lovely small- to medium-sized tree (up to sixty feet tall x thirty feet in spread) with lustrous foliage, dark green in summer and rich golden in fall, and beautiful bark. A member of the Ebony family, it is prized for its high quality, hard heartwood (used to…

Ironwood is a small to medium-sized (twenty to thirty-five feet) deciduous, understory tree that grows in woods throughout Eastern North America. It has handsome, smooth-textured, rippling bark (“Musclewood”) and alternate, doubly-serrated, oval leaves with a corrugated texture. The timber of Ironwood is of greater-than-average hardness and durability as suggested by its…

River Birch is a graceful, medium-sized (fifty to eightyt feet) deciduous tree with an irregular, open, spreading crown. It is the most heat tolerant of the birches and the only birch that grows in lower elevations in NC. Although it is often found in floodplains and river bottoms, and tolerates wet…