Alaska Trees and Shrubs

Alaska Trees and Shrubs, by Leslie A. Viereck and Elbert L. Little, Jr., is a great reference for learning about the woody plants in Alaska (and extending into the Pacific Northwest and Russia). I pulled out my copy as a refresher before our trip to Anchorage earlier this month. The book is published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. My hardback version was published in 1972, but you can pick up a soft cover of the later version on Amazon.

The audience includes scientists, naturalists, and anyone interested in nature. The book includes a list of Alaskan tree and shrub species (mostly native, some naturalized), and notes that identification is easy because there are so few species (the 1972 version lists 19 plant families, 54 genera, and 128 species). It describes the main vegetation categories, including coastal forests, interior forests, and tundra; and provides a color coded vegetation map that identifies the vegetation types (coastal spruce-hemlock forests, closed spruce-hardwood forests, open growing spruce forests, treeless bogs, shrub thickets, moist tundra, wet tundra, alpine tundra, and ice and snow). The book provides identification keys, including winter identification keys for deciduous trees.

The descriptions of each species go beyond physical descriptions to include usage, history, and useful information. For example, the entry for Western Crabapple (Malus diversifolia) states that the fruit was eaten by Native Americans and is used in jellies and preserves. The entry for Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) provides information about old growth trees and experimental trees planted on the Aleutian Islands. The illustrations, rendered by several artists, are beautiful and detailed. We studied many of the tree families in my Tree ID class at Merritt College—such as Betulaceae, Cupressaceae, Pinaceae, Salix, and Taxaceae.

This book is also special on a personal level. My dad, Arland S. Harris, is acknowledged for contributing information on trees and shrubs in Southeast Alaska (the Sitka Spruce tree is one of his specialties). Also, the bibliography includes names that I recognize from my childhood – scientists with whom my dad collaborated, or who came to dinner. Names like Wilbur (Bill) Farr, Paul Haack, Karl Hegg, Keith Hutchison, T. H. Laurent, and Ray Taylor (whom I mentioned in the Mill Creek post). 

Memories of Anchorage and the Art Show

School and work have resumed, but I still have my memories of our trip to Anchorage and the wilds of Alaska. Memories can lighten the days – in the midst of hard work  you can stop and remember something wonderful like a grand vista of the mountains, a delicious regional meal, time spent with friends and family in a new location, and shared adventures. And, for me, recalling gardens, beautiful flowers, or something interesting in nature.

Annuals in Anchorage, Alaska brighten a rainy day.

Some of my “plant memories” include the trolley ride we took around the Anchorage vicinity – learning about the miniature, stunted spruce trees that can grow in permafrost (and about the Good Friday earthquake in 1964, which registered 9.2 and lasted for over 5 minutes). The annuals we saw all over Anchorage in hanging baskets, beds, borders, and containers – a celebration of riotous color in the short, intense growing season of the far North. And the beautiful landscaped yards that become wilderness at their borders (it must be a constant battle to maintain that demarcation between tamed and wild)!

The trolley that took us all over Anchorage.

City Hall with its borders of bright annuals.

Some of the best memories revolve around seeing our son, meeting his lovely girlfriend, and seeing his art on display in Crush Bistro & Cellar. We had great times visiting the studio, meeting for meals, and spending time together. My husband and I miss them already, but it somehow helps to picture them in that wild beautiful land, studying at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, and preparing for their careers. And we can look forward to Christmas break!

Crush Bistro - you can see the art on display to the right. 

Back to School – Plant Diseases

Tonight I head back to school. For the past several years I have been taking classes at Merritt College in Oakland, working toward the basic Landscape Horticulture certificate.

This semester I am taking the Plant Diseases class - to learn all about the pests you find in the garden and the plant problems that result. Sounds hard - more memorization, more Latin names to learn, and more science. And lots of diseased plants to diagnose (all without my Tree ID buddy, Ruth, who is taking another class). What am I thinking? I don't have to do this. But here I am with IPMs (Integrated Pest Management documents) loaded onto my iPad, and a book bag loaded with my notebook, text book, magnifier, and camera.

What is that? I found it hanging
in a pear tree at the Wolf Creek Inn in Oregon
a few years ago. I'm hoping to learn
how to diagnose what is going on.

At home, my long suffering husband is hunkering down to endure four more months of leftovers, fending for himself, and conversations about the insects, bacteria, and viruses that plague the plant kingdom, and ways to combat them without pesticides. Stay tuned!

Denali National Park

For a short, three-day road trip, my husband, folks, and aunt rented an SUV and drove the Parks Highway to Denali National Park. The forecast of cloudy and rainy weather dimmed our hope of actually seeing Denali, but we decided to go anyway, since the terrain and wilderness is beautiful on its own merit. Plus, the “partly cloudy” weather prediction could also be read as “partly sunny”, meaning we could have a brief encounter with Denali. Denali, which means “The High One” (formerly known as Mount McKinley), is 20,328 feet high and the tallest mountain peak in the United States and North America. Denali National Park includes more than six million acres of raw, wild land. What a national treasure.

Our upscale camp site at the Cantwell RV Park.

On a tip from friends in Wasilla, Alaska, we rented trailers in the Cantwell RV Park for our lodging (Milepost 210). This was great fun, and provided us an “upscale” camping experience, without having to haul around camping gear or drive an RV. In the Park (Milepost 237.2), we signed up for shuttle service to the Eielson Visitor Center, an eight-hour round-trip ride with brief restroom breaks and frequent stops for wildlife viewing. This is a great way to see the park – letting an expert drive, with the option of getting off and on the buses. Our driver informed us that Denali is so tall that it makes its own weather, and that only about 30 – 40% of Park visitors actually see the mountain.

It is hard to fathom the distance and grandeur from a photo.



Our green shuttle making a stop to view wildlife and the terrain.

Our shuttle left the Wilderness Access Center (WAC) at 10:30 in the morning. We had a great ride and a very knowledgeable bus driver. We saw lots of wild life – grizzly bears, caribou, foxes, wolves, mountain sheep, hawks, magpies, chipmunks, and a seagull. We saw beautiful sweeps of tundra, with its tapestry of miniature plants and jagged mountains.

Caribou	Tundra tapestry
Miniature fireweed	Grazing grizzlies

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We enjoyed the 40 minute break at the Eielson Visitor Center with its sod roof, solar panels, and grand vistas. But no glimpse of Denali. The mountain was continually shrouded in clouds and mist. Our shuttle returned to the WAC at 6:15. For dinner we dined at The Salmon Bake just north of the Park (Milepost 238.4), and then returned to the RV Park for the night.

Eielson Visitor Center, with a non-view of Denali.

The sun occasionally peaked through the clouds and mist.

The next day was a beautiful – full sun, puffy clouds, and warm temperature. We drove our rented SUV back to Anchorage in high spirits. And guess what? We saw Denali. All the way to Anchorage we had spectacular views of the mountain – from the North, West, and South. Clouds drifted across the snow capped peaks but we had a clear view. I heard one fellow in the South parking lot state that he had never seen such a clear view of Denali in all his years in Alaska.

Denali from the Parks Highway – North View.

Denali from the Parks Highway – South View.

If you are ever in Anchorage or Fairbanks – go to Denali. You might get lucky and see the mountain, despite the odds, or you’ll have a great story to tell about NOT seeing the mountain.

Eklutna Lake

My folks from Southeast Alaska and my aunt from the Bay Area arrived in Anchorage as planned. It was a delight to see each other, and to travel together again in Alaska after so many years. Our son’s girlfriend, the lovely E.J. from Shanghai (who is in Anchorage studying Accounting and Hospitality), recommended that we visit Eklutna Lake, about an hour north of Anchorage on the Glenn Highway (Mile 26, for those using The Milepost 2012—the invaluable guide to travelling anywhere in Alaska).

Eklutna Lake with Chugach mountains in the distance.

Bare roots, and silty emerald green lake water.

Eklutna Lake is in the Chugach State Park and in the midst of the Chugach Mountains. The Eklutna Glacier carved out the valley, and glacial and fresh water runoff created the lake. The glacier flour (small particles of silt) gives the lake a milky appearance. The lake is used by a power plant, and provides drinking water for Anchorage. It is also used for recreation; we saw a whole group of kayakers return to the landing site during our hike. We walked along the lake shore on a paved path through a spruce and birch forest.

The winding path follows the shoreline through a
dense forest of spruce and birch.

I was surprised but interested to find many “plant diseases” on the trees surrounding the lakes. We found leaf galls, colonies of insects feeding on leaves, and evidence of leaf miners. This may be a common part of the forest life cycle where the growing season is short. Perhaps all creatures need to complete their life cycles before winter, but I don’t recall observing such a concentration of plant damage in one place on any of our other hikes. Something to research.

Kayaks for hire on the banks of Lake Eklutna.

Leaf damage - looks like the leaf  veins are not as tasty!

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Hope, Alaska

On one of the beautiful days when the sun shone (we didn’t have many – Anchorage is having an especially wet summer this year), my husband and I took an outing to Hope, Alaska. This entailed driving 70 miles on the Seward Highway around Turnagain Arm (where Captain James Cook had to “turn again” after realizing this waterway was not the Northwest Passage), then driving 17 miles on the Hope Highway.

Railroad that follows the Seward Highway.

Slough and meadow near the railroad, filled with wildflowers.

The scenery was breathtaking – the Chugach Mountains, Cook Inlet in the distance, and Turnagain Arm dominated the view. We stopped at a Visitor Center/railroad depot to pick up some information, and to explore the railroad tracks and slough. We saw lots of wildflowers, including Fireweed, Cow Parsnip, and Shasta daisies. With all the water, everything was green and lush – almost like Southeast Alaska. This kind of outing reminds me how important nature remains for humans.

The Social Hall in Hope, Alaska.

A more current social hall - the Seaview Cafe.

Hope is a tiny town with a Gold Rush history. There is a Historical and Mining Museum to explore, but we spent most of our time watching people fishing in Porcupine Creek, and walking on the marsh close to Porcupine Creek Campground. The air was clear, the sky blue, the clouds white; being outside seemed more appealing. Later, back in Anchorage, we ate a late dinner at the Moose’s Tooth and then attended our son’s art opening at the Crush in downtown Anchorage. It was a grand day!

Porcupine Creek - a paradise for fishing.

Personal Path

On my morning walk near our Anchorage hotel, I discovered this small path that cut into a park, taking me off the busy street and side walk. This little personal path was a delight, with its landscaping of trees, shrubs, and wildflowers. Further up the path is a park bench positioned to take in the view of a small wood, lush green lawn (water conservation is not a concern), and playground equipment in the distance.

This is a great example of small landscaping in a public place. It is attractive, beckons to be explored, and moved me away from splashing cars during a small rain shower.

Small path cuts through the park and parallels the road.

Green Roof in Anchorage

This green roof caught my eye in downtown Anchorage. The Visitor Information Center is covered with a meadow of local wildflowers, reminiscent of a prairie sod roof from pioneer days.

Visitor Information Center in downtown Anchorage, Alaska. 

The log cabin is also surrounded with annuals in shades of pink and purple. Annuals are very popular in a place with a short and intense growing season. The soil is rich with nitrogen so the flowers grow large and bold.

Sod roof and perennial border of bright annuals.

Atrium Gardens

I was struck how drab some of the buildings appear in Anchorage. Some downtown buildings seem to occupy an entire block, and have no landscaping (with severe winters this may be practical, but leaves some sections of the city looking bleak).

I soon learned that many of these buildings are designed as large atriums with the landscaping inside. The atriums are filled with light, planted with trees and plants that flourish in the filtered light, and routinely used by locals to meet or relax.

This is a brilliant and practical solution for handling landscaping in a cold climate - bring the garden inside! This idea that could be incorporated in the San Francisco Bay Area as well, with our cold, foggy, gray days.

Moose Crossing

I am "on assignment" in Anchorage, Alaska to attend the opening of our son's First Friday art exhibit, on display at Crush Bistro during the month of August. He created fourteen prints for the show (our son is studying print making at University of Alaska), all around the theme of our shells or masks. The pieces are interesting, complex, and beautifully rendered (I have learned all about the processes he uses to create his "fusion" prints over the last year). Did I mention how proud, impressed, and excited I am?

Various family members are converging on the city for the show. We are exploring Anchorage and the surrounding environment, and have plans to visit Denali. Anchorage is a fairly large city, situated on Cook Inlet and surrounded by spectacular mountain ranges. I last visited Anchorage as a teenager, so a lot has changed.

While I am here, I am on the hunt for delicious local grown produce, and interesting garden ideas. Anchorage is close to the Matanuska Valley, with its rich, fertile earth; and short, intense growing season. We have already heard tales of eight feet high moose easily jumping ten feet high fences to browse in people's vegetable gardens (my deer problem now seems fairly insignificant).

I like this coexistence attitude - moose and wild flowers.

Landscape Plants for California Gardens

I am exploring a new book, which is destined to be a “go to” reference for choosing plants and trees for the landscape. The book is Landscape Plants for California Gardens by Bob Perry, published by Land Design Publishing (Claremont, 2010). Perry is Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona). He has been a licensed Landscape Architect since 1972, and specializes in water conservation.

Perry’s stated goals for the book are to (1) provide a comprehensive reference of plants commonly grown in the landscape, and (2) provide information and guidelines to support landscape water conservation. The book is divided into four sections:

• Section 1 describes plant climate zones and water estimates. The book advocates grouping plants in the landscape by water needs.
• Section 2 provides plant lists by type, such as vines, palms, flowering trees, and Asian garden plants.
• Section 3 provides plant palettes, organized in two irrigation groups – regular and reduced summer water.
• Section 4 provides an illustrated plant compendium. Specimens are from both Northern and Southern California.

The book is well illustrated, and includes ingenious charts for conveying information about plants. This is a convenient encoded reference, but takes some time to get up-to-speed reading the charts. The plant lists and their associated plant list abbreviations, which include information about water usage, are especially useful.