PLANTWISE

Wanted: One Organically-Grown Christmas Tree

Some growers are already using sustainable practices. Now we just need to see the certification process start!

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Dec 09, 2010 at 07:00AM 3 Comments

Don’t be fooled by the intelligent look on this little “fir” ball’s face! She is a Pomeranian, after all. (Fraser fir in background – needles are shorter, boughs longer and more upswept and the tree seems slightly less aromatic than the noble fir.)

If you’re seeking a cut tree, there’s some great information on handling and maintaining the freshness of your tree in this article I wrote last winter. It also addresses how to deal with cut trees after the holidays, what kind of living Christmas tree to look for, and how to care for it.

When I wrote the piece last year, I thought that by this holiday season, it might be possible that organic certification could have become a reality. Not quite … According to Bryan Ostlund of the Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association, there are, to the best of his knowledge, no Oregon growers yet who are organically certified. However, Ostlund notes, most growers integrate some measure of IPM (Integrated Pest Management) practices already.

But now, finally, there’s a plan to recognize the efforts of growers who already use these practices on their farms and to encourage others to adopt them.

Oregon and Washington Christmas tree farmers are currently working on a new voluntary certification program, the Socially & Environmentally Responsible Farm (SERF) certification, to enable Christmas tree farms to demonstrate their commitment to sound social and environmental management and sustainable practices.

To gain certification, growers will need to address issues such as environmental management, biodiversity, soil conservation, integrated pest management, social health and safety, and consumer relations to receive a SERF seal to display on their trees.

Until this happens – and the pilot program should be beginning in January, with certification possibly beginning as early as next winter (Nov-Dec 2011) – the closest I can come to finding an organic tree is to buy from a grower who self-identifies as using minimal to no chemicals. I found these farms on various websites on line. Until there is a third-party certified Sustainable Christmas Tree resource, these growers may be your best bet:

Victorhill Farm, Beavercreek, OR
Tel: 503-632-6244.
Low-spray farm with u-cut, hand-pruned Douglas fir, blue spruce, grand fir and noble fir. Tree net-baling and tree shaking included at no extra charge. Wreaths available.

Beaverton Holiday U-Cut , Beaverton, OR
Tel: 503-649-9164
Small family farm offering low-spray u-cut Douglas fir with some noble firs. Trees are hand-sheared and pesticide-free. Free apple cider for all tree-goers.

Holscher’s , Gresham, OR
Tel: 503-761-1209
Minimizes chemical and pesticide use. U-Pick, we-cut noble fir trees. They also deliver within 15 miles of the farm for $45.

NJ Christmas Tree Farm, Damascus, OR
Tel: 503-658-2766
No herbicide or pesticide spraying. Mostly noble fir.

Natural Nobles Tree Farm (no website)
21888 S Fellows Rd, Estacada, OR 97023
Phone: 503-631-4527 or 503-896-2697
No pesticides used, Christmas trees – you choose and we cut, Also, pre-cut Christmas trees, Christmas wreaths, boughs, garlands, mistletoe, tree shaking provided, trees baled, saws provided.

Deininger Farms , Oregon City, OR
Described as “following organic practices,” they are a u or we-cut Christmas tree farm. Doug fir, grands, and nobles, as well as their own jams, jellies and walnuts, all organically grown right here.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Holiday Events, Trees, sustainability

In a Tight Spot? Plant This Eucryphia!

Eucryphia x nymansensis ‘Mt. Usher’

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Sep 22, 2010 at 11:29AM 7 Comments

Leatherwood (probably Eucryphia x nymansensis ‘Mt Usher’)

I took these photos about two weeks ago while visiting a friend. The tree is actually in her neighbor’s yard but, lucky for my friend, it grows just feet from her kitchen window. By now, the tree may be past its flowering prime – especially after the recent torrential rains. But the flowers do open over a very long period in late summer so chances are, it’s still looking sweet.

Eucryphia trees have an elegant, upright, often columnar habit (depending on the species). Some are slender enough to fit in the funkiest urban spaces yet not so narrow that they look scarily rigid.

The hardier evergreen species’ leaves – including the one I photographed – are handsome in winter, only suffering in the coldest, iciest winters. The foliage can vary a lot in size and shape, depending on species but it’s always attractive and there are some lovely variegated-leafed forms, as well as selections with lustrous, pale pink flowers instead of the typical white.

Flowers, which range from modestly charming (less than an inch across) to flagrantly showy (three inches across) are white with a fluffy boss of yellow stamens. So elegant! They appear in August and September when few other trees are in flower, and are lightly, sweetly fragrant. When I was traveling in Tasmania, I bought delicious, intensely flavored leatherwood honey made from the flowers.

The genus Eucryphia includes seven species – five from Australia and Tasmania and two from south-central Chile and Argentina.

Leatherwood (probably Eucryphia x nymansensis ‘Mt Usher’), showing off its handsome, upright habit. This plant is growing in a SE Portland neighborhood, with some wind protection between two houses… but exposed to the north. But it’s obviously pretty tough to be in such great condition after the terrible cold of last winter…

Mt Usher (pictured), a hybrid between the two Chilean species E. glutinosa and E. cordifolia, is said to be the most cold-hardy of all eucryphias. Other hardy hybrids commonly grown in the Pacific Northwest include E. x nymanensis ‘Nymansay’ and the more elegant-foliaged, narrowly columnar E. x intermedia ‘Rostrevor’, a.cross between Chilean E. glutinosa and the Australian E. lucida.

The relatively cold-hardy Eucryphias listed above are not difficult to grow if their basic requirements are met. In our inland climate, they prefer a woodland setting where their roots can be shaded and tops can be in sun. They like to be protected (by trees or buildings) from icy winter winds, which can damage the foliage in winter. For soil, they prefer humusy, woodsy, slightly acidic, well-drained soil that receives some supplemental water in summer. (In other words, they are not particularly drought-tolerant.) They’re hardy to about 0-10F, depending on the species, but their leaves can brown and drop in temperatures below 12F, especially if the super-cold, drying winter winds hit the Portland metro area. They thrive in the maritime atmosphere of the Pacific Coast, although they also seem to especially enjoy warm pockets in downtown Portland. (Watch out on terraces, though – they don’t appreciate hot sun, reflected heat or drying winds.)

Good sources for cold-tolerant Eucryphia trees:

Xera Plants – a wholesale outfit whose plants can be found at all these locations.

Cistus Design Nursery – call to ask, as Eucryphia are not on their current availability list but they typically sell several types.

And aha! While looking on line for Eucryphia, I suddenly remembered Plant Lust (I wrote about this on-line plant-hunting resource here.)

…so just go to Plant Lust and type Eucryphia into the search engine to see a listing of available plants in our region. (So far, all from Gossler’s Nursery in Eugene, OR.) You can click through directly to Gossler’s from the Plant Lust site, too, which is nice.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Flowers, Trees, Garden Design

Porterhowse Farms

colorful conifer cones

Posted by: Kate Bryant on May 07, 2010 at 11:26PM 2 Comments

Acrocona Norway spruce (Picea abies ‘Acrocona’) with gorgeous hot pinky-purple new cones

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Acrocona Norway spruce (Picea abies ‘Acrocona’) with gorgeous hot pinky-purple new cones

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Likiang spruce (Picea likiangensis) with heavy cone set the year after being moved. Conifers sometimes react to stress by trying to reproduce.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Silver Show Korean fir (Abies koreana ‘Silver Show’) – Don tells me that, in the weeks since this photo was taken, it has grown beautiful new purple cones. What a combination!

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Here you can easily see a diversity of female cones, both new and old, on one tree. Do you see any male cones? This is Pusch Norway spruce (Picea abies ‘Pusch’).

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Proprietor and conifer expert Don Howse standing in front of the oldest Silberlocke Korean fir on the West Coast (tall silvery tree in backdrop). He holds a start of an even more silvery, choice Korean fir in his hands, propagated from his large Silberlocke tree. (For covetous conifer collectors, this treasure, now named Porterhowse Bonanza, is currently under production and should soon be available for sale.)

I recently visited Porterhowse Farms, a small retail nursery – nestled in a surprisingly large arboretum and garden – specializing in conifers and conifer companion plants. Porterhowse Arboretum has well over 2000 conifer species and cultivars in the collection and a lovely selection of those plants are for sale in the retail area.

Winter is the best time to admire conifer foliage – conifers really “pop” visually once the deciduous trees and shrubs have dropped their leaves and the wintry monotone landscape provides the backdrop. Many conifers also develop rich colors in cold weather, turning gorgeous shades of smoky burgundy, rust, brighter yellow, or more powdery blue. But spring is the best time to see conifer cones because you can observe the distinct and often colorful male and female cones in their springtime colors.

All conifers species have male and female cones. (See this link to note the difference between male and female pine cones.) Both male and female start out small but the males never really grow and are fairly inconspicuous – once they release their pollen, they are shed from the plant.

The first to appear are often the male (pollen-bearing) cones. They are usually orange or tan but are sometimes red or purple. Female (seed-bearing) cones grow large after pollination. On some species, they start out dramatic red, purple or hot pink in youth before turning green, then age to the familiar dry, brown cones we know and love. If you’re unsure which is which, you can gently shake the cones: when mature, males release a cloud of yellow pollen. (Don’t try this if you suffer from conifer pollen allergies!) Maturation time can range from months to years, depending on the species. Mature female cone size can be less than a quarter inch long to over 2 feet in length.

Most conifer species produce male and female parts on the same individual plant but a few, including yews and junipers, appear on separate plants. Yews and junipers actually don’t produce cones: instead, their seed lies within a fleshy covering called an aril. I remember squishing juicy red yew arils when I was a child. (They are reputedly poisonous.)

There was a wild diversity of brightly-colored, prominent cones on the conifers at Porterhowse Farms when I visited. (See Slideshow for some dishy examples – if any aren’t identified and you want to know what they are, email me – or just wait: I’ll be loading the names presently.) But I’m sure my photos do not do them justice – and some of the more dramatic purple female cones were just too high on the trees for me to sensibly photograph.

There is much to learn and love about conifers. Many conifers are tough and drought-tolerant plants, as well as providing year-round interest and a diversity of colors and forms.

For more information on the morphology of the cones and how conifer reproduction takes place, there’s a nice, quick introduction on the American Conifer Society’s conifer introduction page.

A fantastic and informative conifer blog can be found here.

For information on specific conifers, Porterhowse Farms has a database of plants in the arboretum, with descriptions and some photos, as well as an availability list and a links and publications page with a link to the American Conifer Society.

Porterhowse Farms is about an hour from Portland in Sandy. Visitors are welcomed by appointment only – just call to arrange a time to visit. You will need at least an hour to visit the garden – we took over three hours and shopped afterwards. Retail offerings include unusual conifers in sizes ranging from small tubes (I got a tube of silvery cultivar of the lacebark pine, Pinus bungeana ‘Silver Ghost’) to specimen-sized plants. There is also a surprisingly good collection of Sempervivum and Jovibarba (hens-and-chicks) in ruby, burgundy, and nearly black shades, as well as green and red-rimmed green.

To arrange a visit the nursery and arboretum, contact Don here.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Slideshow, Nurseries, Trees, Conifers

Berry Botanic Garden Classes

last call

Posted by: Kate Bryant on May 03, 2010 at 09:40AM 0 Comments

Berry Botanic Garden’s rock garden

The Berry Botanic Garden is closing – but not before it offers a finale of great hikes, tours and classes at reasonable prices, from now to mid-June, when they close their doors. I’ve taken a number of their classes in the past and can recommend them highly.

Here’s the May catalog of classes – and June, here. There are openings in all but one classes and hikes. I’m signing up for some myself. The wildflower hikes are fantastic. Classes include flower ID, mosses and lichens, and botanical illustration. The two remaining garden tours are the Platt Garden and Wallace Huntington’s garden, both profiled in previous issues of Portland Spaces Magazine.

If you want to torture yourself with a list of past classes, here’s a comprehensive class catalog showing what Portland is about to lose forever. To read a history of the garden, click here.

If you can swing a visit in the next month, go visit – quick, before it is sold. While perhaps in need of some TLC now, the garden is nevertheless a place of great beauty, with woodland paths, a damp garden, perennial and shrub beds, and an extensive and richly planted rock garden.

The site was purchased and was first gardened by Rae Selling Berry beginning in 1938 so there are beautiful old trees and shrubs that have been there for 70 years. This is a spectacular time to visit, as the rhododendron collection is coming alive. In June, the gorgeous Stewartia tree will be in flower. Berry also collected unusual primula species and alpine plants.

Berry Botanic Garden’s primrose bed

The garden’s doors close officially on June 30, 2010.

Newsbreak – I’m told my vegetable garden will make a brief appearance on KPTV Channel 12’s Better Portland program today (Monday) between 1 and 2 pm. This is the segment I wrote about last week in which Chef Blake Van Roekel prepares a delicious mâche omelette (recipe here). Tune in!

Add a Comment »

Tags: Gardening Events, Flowers, Trees

Plant a Tree, Get a Treebate

the program takes a break for summer – so get planting!

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Apr 26, 2010 at 05:00AM 2 Comments

Imagine looking out your window into the glowing white flowers of the dove tree (Davidia involucrata).

We all know that planting trees helps combat global warming.

At a local level, trees are also an important part of Portland’s green storm water infrastructure. They absorb rain, prevent erosion, clean the air and shade our neighborhoods.

As an incentive to homeowners, the City of Portland has been offering a Treebate to Portland residents who plant trees on their residential property.

How does the Treebate work? The city will credit your water/sewer utility bill for half the purchase price per tree, up to $40 – and up to $50 if you plant a native tree.

To receive a Treebate, purchase an eligible tree, plant it at a residence in the City of Portland, and submit an application form and the receipt from our tree purchase by May 1, 2010. That’s coming up pretty quick! I just called Erica Timm (503-823-5729) at the City and she said the receipt and application form just need to be postmarked by May 1 (that’s this Saturday) to be eligible. If you have any questions about tree eligibility or other aspects of the Treebate, call Erica this week.

If you miss this deadline, you just have a little more time to think about species, as the program will almost certainly be offered again this fall. Be sure to purchase your eligible tree after September 1, 2010 to qualify for the fall Treebate.

Other eligibility tidbits of interest:

All tree species are eligible, as long as they are not on the nuisance list and are full-sized (not dwarf), single-trunked trees. The idea is that the City would like maximum biomass for their Treebate bucks. Native trees are considered best, as they provide native pollinators, birds, butterflies and other native creatures with crucial habitat.

Forms, list of eligible and ineligible trees and other program details are available here.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Get Dirty, Trees