Trees of the California Landscape

Turns out, our text book for the Tree ID class at Merritt College is a great resource for identifying trees in the landscape. Trees of the California Landscape is written by Charles R. Hatch, and published by University of California Press, Berkeley in 2007. The book is divided into three main parts – the introduction, a compendium of trees of the California Landscape, and a reference section.

• Introduction - describes the topography, geography, and climate of California. It provides information about trees in the native landscape, including information about different habitats and plant communities. It also provides information about trees in the urban landscape, including public parks and plazas, freeways, streetscapes, and residential landscape, design elements for tree selection, and lists of tree characteristics.
• Compendium - provides a list of trees, sorted by binomial name. Diagnostics for each tree are described, including leaves, flower, seeds, twigs and bark, and pictures are provided.
• Reference - includes information about taxonomy, tree structure, bark, habit, leaf veining, leaf parts, leaf types, leaf format, flower types, and fruit types. It also includes a  glossary, trees by classification and family, key to tree genera, an index to trees, an index to common names, a list of arboretums, and a bibliograhpy.

I love its clear pictures of tree forms and leaf structure. The diagnostics are also useful. I also appreciate that it recognizes non-native trees that are part of the urban landscape in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Street Trees Through the Seasons - Chinese Pistache

Pistacia chinensis (Chinese Pistache) is native to China and has naturalized in parts of California.

The tree is deciduous, and key diagnostics include a rounded form, nearly as wide as it is tall, with low sweeping branches unless pruned. Leaves are alternate, pinnately compound, 4-8” long, dark to medium green with 10-16 elliptical to ovate-lanceolate leaflets (2-4” long by ¾” wide), glabrous, with brilliant fall color. Insignificant male and female flowers are on separate trees (dioecious). Females develop clusters of small, red drupes. Bark is reddish brown, becoming gray-brown and finely fissured with age.

Pistacia chinensis - leaves, flower, and form.

Chinese Pistachio tolerates drought and alkaline soil, resists oak root fungus, and is relatively pest free. The drupes drop in the fall, making this a very messy tree, but makes up for it with its fall color in our temperate climate.

Winter - limbs are bare against the winter sky.	Spring - male and female flowers emerge.
Summer - trees are leafed out and drupes develop.	Fall - brilliant color and drupes turn red.

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Street Trees Through the Seasons - Upright English Oak

Quercus robur ‘Fastigiata’ (Upright English Oak) is a variety of the species that is native to central and northeastern United States and southern Canada.

The tree is deciduous, and key diagnostics include a distinct upright columnar form, with many small, twiggy side branches. Leaves are alternate, simple, 3-4” by 1-2”, oval, dark green, with little or no stem, distinctly scalloped edges, persisting well into winter with orange to tan fall color. Acorns are brown, oval, with flattened, rounded ends and a short blunt nib and cup scales forming a fat warty surface over half the nut. Bark is dark brown, furrowed, with shallow, flat, peeling ridge plates.

Quercus robur 'Fastigiata' - leaves and form.

Quercus robur‘ Fastigiata’ requires little care once established, but does best in good soil.

Winter - bare, ascending branches reveal the upright columnar shape.	Spring - fresh, green, densely clustered leaves.
Summer - attractive foliage and form under the hot Dublin sun.	Fall - leaves turn bronzy orange.

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Street Trees Through the Seasons - Columnar Hornbeam (Birch)

Carpinus betulus ‘Fastigiata’ (Compact Hornbeam) is in the Betulaceae family (another birch). It is a variety of a species native to Europe and Asia Minor.

The tree is deciduous, and key diagnostics include a distinct upright columnar to oval form, which broadens with age, and a short trunk. Leaves are alternate, simple, 2-4”, dull dark green, ovate-oblong, double serrate edges, acuminate ends, pale undersides, and bright yellow fall color. Flowers are insignificant tassels that occur in March (male flower is 1 ½” long, female flower is smaller and at the tip of current season twigs). Green fruiting catkin dries with age, producing seeds. Bark is smooth, thin, light brown to gray with blotchy markings and shallow furrows developing with age.


Carpinus betulus 'Fastigiata' - leaf shape and habit.
Tassel like female flowers are just forming at the tip.

Birch requires somewhat moist, well-drained soil. Columnar Hornbeam tolerates the coastal and inland conditions of Northern California.

Winter - bare, ascending branches reveal the columnar shape.	Spring - lovely fresh, green leaves shimmer and catch the light.
Summer - green leaves and attractive form.	Fall - brilliant yellow color.

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Street Trees Through the Seasons - Cherry

The cherry tree, or Prunus, is in the Rosaceae family. Prunus ceracifera ‘Atropurpurea’ (Purple Leaf Plum) is a hybrid, related to natives from Southeast Europe and Asia. It has naturalized in many parts of the world, including the San Francisco Bay Area.

The tree is deciduous, and key diagnostics include alternate, simple, oblong-ovate leaves with finely serrated edges, pale undersides, and new leaves that are coppery, then fade to dark purple; flowers are clusters of fragrant single white or pink flowers in racemes that appear in late winter before the leaves; bark is thin, grayish brown with furrows; and the fruit is an edible plum that is sweet but bland.

Prunus ceracifera 'Atropurpurea' - leaf shape and habit.
This sample has a pest that is eating its leaves.

The cherry tree is tolerant of heat with moderate moisture in well-drained soil, and best suited for lawns or shrub areas away from pavement.

Winter - sillouette of bare, ascending branches against the winter sky.	Spring - blossoms in late winer,  and early spring.
Summer - deep purple leaves.	Fall - leaves persist into late fall.

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Street Trees Through the Seasons - Birch

My Tree ID class at Merritt College will be coming to a close by the end of May. It’s been a great class. Dr. Lawrence Lee has exposed us to over 160 trees over the last four months – trees that you might see in gardens throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. The trees come from all over the world, some have naturalized, others thrive in the Mediterranean climate. Rather than memorizing, we are learning how to use a tree’s key characteristics, its diagnostics, to identify it.

For my class project, I’m reporting on street trees through the seasons. I work in Dublin, California, and try to take a walk almost every day. For the last year and a half, I have been observing and photographing the trees as they go through the seasons. Those of you from other parts of the country may question that we have seasons in the Bay Area, but I found my subjects actually do undergo seasonal changes! Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing my findings with Eden By The Bay readers.

My first subject is a Birch tree – Betula nigra (River Birch), which is in the Betulaceae family. Betula nigra is native to the Eastern United States and is often planted in small groves in the landscape. The tree is deciduous, and key diagnostics include small green leaves with 5-9 paired veins; regular apetalous, tassel-like flowers in early spring (3” long male flowers in clusters of 1-3, and ½” long female flowers at the ends of branch spurs below the males); and wonderful peeling bark that is pinkish tan when young then becoming darkened and furrowed in age.

Betula nigra - leaf shape and habit, and flowers.

Birch does require water so it is best suited in a lawn or close to water. In Dublin, the birch are planted in lawns and irrigated with potable (gray) water. The tree has interest all through the seasons.

Winter - lacy branches and exfoliating bark.	Spring - a succession of male and female flowers, then new leaves.
Summer - dense shade for the hot Dublin summer.	Fall - leaves turn yellow and orange.

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Bonnie's Garden

My mother-in-law died recently at 83, after a short fight with cancer. My husband and I visited Spokane, Washington to take care of her things. While in Spokane, we met with family members to swap "Bonnie stories" and took a memorial drive up to Springdale, Washington to see where she was born at home to first generation Norwegian-American parents.

Bonnie loved sitting out on her deck overlooking the Spokane River

Bonnie was a complex, private, creative person, who could tell a great story. She was proud of her son and grandson, and welcomed me, as her daughter-in-law, with open arms. She spent most of her life in Spokane, except for a brief stint in Phoenix, Arizona during her marriage. She hated the heat in Phoenix, and loved to tell about when my husband was born in August in 110 degree heat with no air condition – “My gawd” she would say as she started the story, her blue eyes twinkling). Bonnie was a single working mom at a time it was not the norm. She made a career as “a damn good bookkeeper” for a major oil corporation, and then for a travel agency in Spokane. Bonnie spent her retirement years with her beloved dog and cat in a mobile home overlooking the Spokane River. She gardened, walked her dog, and created beautiful rugs, blankets, and artwork, often abstractions of the natural world.

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While in Spokane, I enjoyed seeing her garden as it was awakening from winter dormancy. I stood there, listening to the wind in the trees and the birdsong, and  picturing Bonnie planning, planting, and tending the garden she loved.

Small flower bed just waking up from winter.	Japanese Maple planted in an improvised raised bed.
Faux copper statue overlooking the river	Spring growth emerging near rounded rocks

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Desert Plant Wrapup - 2012

My folks and I saw many familiar desert blooms this year—including Ocotillo, Yucca, Brittle Bush, Chuparosa—but we also added new blooms. We saw plants in different stages of blossoming (no doubt due to being earlier in the season and to less rain this winter than previous winters), and compared this year with last year:

http://edenbythebay.blogspot.com/2011/04/desert-plant-wrap-up.html

Here is this year’s album of new blooms. Some of my favorites include the fields of Chia contrasting with the sage green of other desert plants; the lovely Sand Blazing Star shimmering in the sandy washes; and the big, bold Joshua Tree blossoms. The best part of the adventure continues to be the companionship, as we explore together under the clear light of the spring desert sun, snapping pictures, consulting our flower books, checking our plant lists, and marveling over the harsh, yet fragile, ecosystem.

Bladder Pod	Bladder Pod - variation
Checker Fiddleneck	Prince's Plume
Dessert Poppy (yellow) Desert Canterbury Bells (blue)	Phacelia
Chia	Sand Blazing Star
Joshua Tree	Brown-eyed Primrose

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