Street Trees Through the Seasons - Raywood Ash

Fraxinus angustifolia ‘Raywood’ (Raywood Ash, Claret Ash) is in the Oleaceae family. It is a cultivar of the southwestern European and North African species, which was developed in Australia and introduced into North America in the mid-1950s.

The tree is deciduous, and key diagnostics include leaves that are opposite, pinnately compound, 5” long, dark shiny green, with 5 or 7-9 narrow lanceolate leaflets, sparsely spaced and sessile along the midrib stem, with sparsely serrate edges and dark purplish red fall color. Insignificant flowers are rarely seen. Fruit is tightly bunched clusters of winged achene seed capsules. Bark is thin, smooth, greenish gray, and developing vertical fissures and scaly plates with age.

Fraxinus angustifolia ‘Raywood’ - leaves and form.

Requires moderate watering in well-drained soils, and is widely used as a parking lot, street, or patio shade tree. Fall color in cold winter.

Winter - bare, twiggy, ascending branches.	Spring - soft leaves shimmer in the breeze.
Summer - leaves provide deep shade.	Fall - leaves turn dark purplish red.

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Street Trees Through the Seasons - Silk Tree

Albizia julibrissin (Silk Tree or Mimosa Tree) is in the Fabaceae family, and is native to an area spanning Iran, China, and Japan. It has naturalized in the eastern United States.

The tree is deciduous, and key diagnostics include alternate, bi-pinnately compound leaves, 6-12” by 4-5”, with 8-26 pinnae, each with 30-40 leaflets, which fold close at night. Flowers are showy, fluffy, and pink to reddish, with many-stamens, occurring at branch ends in clustered heads, and attract birds. Bark is smooth, grayish brown, and covered with tiny glandular ridges, which become shallowly fissured with age. The branches have a distinct “zig-zag” pattern. Fruit is a flat, 6” by 1” seed pod with pointed ends, maturing to golden tan. The papery legumes persist all winter. 

Albizia julibrissin - leaves and form.

This tree does well in summer heat, and is drought tolerant once established (but does best with occasional deep watering).

Winter - dry seed pods persist all winter.	Spring - leaves emerge in May.
Summer - pink flowers with an intoxicating fragrance.	Fall - new seed pods develop.

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Summer Movies: Desk Set

It is summer – time for working in the garden, vacations, and outdoor living. It is also a great time to head to the movies. This kicks off the summer edition of movies that star plants.

The first movie this summer is the 1957 classic movie Desk Set starring Spencer Tracey, Katharine Hepburn, and a computer named Miss Emmy. He is an efficiency expert brought in to install a new computer at a network news company, and she is head of the research team, which can find any piece of information at lightning speed. Together they exchange snappy one-liners, fall in love, and come to an understanding about the computer. And yes, there is a plant. The house plant featured in the movie is a species of Philodendron. Watch closely in the office scenes for a glimpse of the plant. The trailer: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050307/.

Philodendron species are in the Araceae family (the same species as Pothos, the house plant featured in House Plants for Brown Thumbs). Philodendron species are typically found in humid tropical forests in the Americas and West Indies, but have been introduced in Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.