What's Up With the Oaks?

Isn't this heat wave getting old?  That's a pretty poor question for what is at stake for the region as we now are classified as SEVERE drought.  EXTREME drought is the next category that Western Kansas and Southeastern Missouri are now experiencing.  It's painful to watch the important agricultural crops wither all around.  We are able to water most of the horticultural crops at Powell Gardens and our gardens are holding up well thanks to a hard working and committed horticulture staff.  Kudos to them!

I am surprised by how one group of native trees is handling the situation.  Oak trees are not withering but putting on NEW growth!

I first noticed the new growth on the two Bur Oaks (Quercus macrocarpa) on either side of the Horticulture Cabin where my office is.  See the bright new growth  in the above photo.  Bur Oak is pretty much the king of oak trees in Greater Kansas City growing to nearly 100 feet tall and wide but with very strong branches that laughed off the ice load of 2002's catastrophic ice storm.  It also produces large, almost golf ball sized acorns.

Then I noticed that virtually all the oaks in the Parking Lot Arboretum on the other side of the garden were doing the same thing.  See the bright yellow-green new foliage adorning this Chinkapin Oak (Quercus muhlenbergii).  Chinkapin oak I consider to be the quintessential oak of Kansas City as it once graced the regions bluffs including where downtown now stands.  Lewis & Clark described it there and you can see it in the magnificent mural of their described scene at the Anita Gorman Discovery Center.

Powell Gardens Parking Lot Arboretum contains 96 oak trees comprising 16 of Missouri and Kansas's 21 species of native oaks and virtually all of them are not just enduring the heat and drought but putting on new growth.    I noticed that the River Birches (Betula nigra) were shedding leaves to conserve water.

Does this mean anything?  Was it caused by conditions earlier in the season or do they know something we do not?  I would love to be an optimist and that they fortell a change in the weather pattern that would bring a monsoon flow and returning rains to the region.  Time will tell.  I can say that oaks are one tough tree once they are established so no wonder that they were the dominant tree in the region when the settlers first came here.

My friend Leah Berg said this reminds her of a talk by America's tree expert, Guy Sternberg on a recent talk for Gardener's Connect / Garden Center Association.  Guy explained a need to plant more heat resistant trees as our climate warms.  He recommended oaks for such and I sincerely concur.

The Value of Trees

We are now in the throws of a HEAT WAVE with temperatures flirting with 100F or more with a forecast for it to last at least a week.  Heat waves near the summer solstice are especially brutal on us and plants because the days are so long.  Trees have enormous value to us in times like this as their shade is the cheapest air conditioner available!

This image is the woodland walk from the Marjory Powell Allen Chapel to the trolley stop at Powell Gardens.  On days like today it is a respite compared to the full sun of the garden's  open prairie landscapes.

It is noticeably cooler in summertime when you enter this walk (and noticeably milder in winter too). But what is the real value of a tree during the year? 



Last week Powell Gardens' Director, Eric Tschanz and I attended the American Public Garden Association's (APGA) national conference in Columbus, OH.  I visited the Chadwick Arboretum on the Ohio State University Campus and was thrilled to see this sign that gave an actual dollar value of a shade tree!  This particular Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) was given a value of $265.09 per year.  It's energy value in terms of cooling summertime and trapping a bit of warmth in the winter was given as over $80 per year of that value.  I was disappointed no value was given to it hosting 5 species of butterflies and providing fruit for winter birds -- many things just can't be assigned dollar values!



Here's an image of a tree that helped inspire Powell Gardens.  We call it Marjory's Oak and it stands in front of the Chapel.  It's a maturing Shingle Oak (Quercus imbricaria) and it survived the catastrophic ice storm of 2002.  The image was taken from INSIDE the chapel today.  The late Marjory Powell Allen was a leading human force that helped create Powell Gardens and her spirit is still present here as she inspired many and left a lasting legacy.  As most trees live for many human generations they leave a lasting legacy of the past that is impossible to assign a value.

This young oak also has significance at Powell Gardens as it was planted on Arbor Day 1990 to honor Chuck Brasher, local tree expert and friend of Marjory.  We are sad to announce that Chuck passed away Tuesday at age 90 and his knowledge of trees and his charity and altruism will be greatly missed.  This Swamp White Oak (Quercus bicolor) graces the old (deliveries and staff) entrance to Powell Gardens and is a constant reminder of Chuck and his love for and expertise with trees.  He maintained the list of Champion Trees of Greater Kansas City and I had the pleasure of spending many days with him measuring and scouting for champion trees.  Chuck wrote a list of the value of trees along with the champions: 

Think Trees... Your future depends on their survival!

*TREES supply the oxygen we need to breathe.

*TREES keep our air supply fresh by absorbing carbon dioxide that we exhale and also that which we emmitted by factories and engines.

*TREES are natural air conditioners.  They lower air temperatures by evaporating water in their leaves.

*TREES cut down on noise pollution by acting as sound barriers.

*TREES trap and filter out dust and pollen on their hairy leaf surfaces.

*TREES shelter us from direct sunlight on hot sunny days.

*TREES roots stabilize the soil and prevent erosion.

*TREES camouflage unsightly scenes and break the monotony of endless highways, sidwalks and lawns.

*TREES slow down strong winds.

*TREES give us privacy.

And lastly Chuck included: A country without children would be hopeless... a country without trees would be almost as hopeless! 

Trees leave a lasting legacy to the future as well -- a Swamp White Oak can easily live 300 years or older.

See Champion Trees of Greater Kansas City at http://www.countryclubtreeservice.com/.

This large shade tree is a White Ash (Fraxinus americana) in front of the Chapel.  White Ash are threatened by an imported exotic pest, the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) which is ravaging ash trees in the eastern Midwest and is spreading our way.  I learned at our APGA conference last week that with treatment as EAB arrives and for several years thereafter, your ash trees can be saved and their appreciating value retained.  Good News as I thought there was no hope for ash trees and the over 400 species of insects and other creatures besides ourselves who need them for their livlihood. Powell Gardens will be spreading the word of what local communities and landowners should do as part of The Sentinel Plant Network that APGA and the United States Department of Agriculture have set up to monitor and advise about threatening pests and diseases.

Just remember from tiny acorns mighty oak trees grow.  This is one of our seedling sof the extirpated (locally extinct) Arkansas population of Bigleaf Magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla).  Powell Gardens was given 5 seedlings of these important trees by Dick Figlar as part of our North American Plant Collection Consortium Magnolia collection where part of Powell Gardens' responsibility is to preserve and protect the native magnolias found west of the Mississippi in Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma.  These magnolias were once found on Crowley's Ridge just 8 miles south of the Missouri border and their importance is that as the western most population by many, many miles; they probably offer improved drought resistance.  Bigleaf magnolia has the largest leaf of any North American tree and takes about 15 years to bloom.  Some day this tree will really inspire visitors with its 3 foot leaves and 12 inch fragrant blossoms!  How does one assign a value to the beauty of trees?  I hope you all are inspired to visit Powell Gardens and its extensive collection of trees and to plant a tree yourself for their appreciating dollar value AND for their value beyond human currency designations.

Trail Trek on the Byron Shutz Nature Trail

60 hikers participated in our first annual Trail Trek on the 3.25 mile Byron Shutz Nature Trail on Saturday morning. This was part of our first Run Fast, Eat Slow event. I was the "caboose" of the trail trek to make sure everyone found their way and what a glorious experience it was. Here are some images I took along the way (with my camera phone).

The trail head of the lies just north of the Visitor Center just beyond the Fountain Garden. You can see we had a little bug friend admiring the sign.


The bug was a female Walking Stick. It is always a joy to spot and admire this marvelous insect.

Part of the beginning of the trail goes through some rich low woods with tangles of brush and vines. We spotted a very rare butterfly in this rich habitat here during our 9th annual North American Butterfly Society butterfly count on July 30th. It was a Gemmed Satyr butterfly which requires this type of habitat and hasn't been seen in Greater Kansas City since 1950 but its former habitat is now Shawnee Mission Medical Center. The closest other Gemmed Satyrs can currently be found only in Missouri Counties that border with Arkansas.

Here is our old field habitat which was recently re-cleared with a monies from the National Resource Conservation Service to provide habitat for unique birds and beneficial pollinating insects. The brush piles will be made into pelleted fuel after they dry. You can see the field is currently a sea of gold wildflowers: flowering Bur-Marigolds or sometimes called Tickseed Sunflowers. All the flowers are natural and they are the first wave of succession as the old field will gradually grow back to brush so we can repeat the project in another 10 to 20 years. If we did nothing this would become woodland and habitat for a whole group of unique plants and animals would be lost.

Here is a closeup of the Bur-Marigolds or Tickseed Sunflowers (Bidens polylepis) though some current botanists lump this and another into Bidens aristosa. This native, annual wildflower graces many roadsides and low meadows at this season.

Here's our bridge over the intermittent stream that bisects Powell Gardens' 970 acre property. The stream flowed all of last year but dried up in the heat of this summer. It is always a peaceful respite with an understory of redbud trees and towering quaking-leaved cottonwood trees above.

Here's one of our prairie restoration areas you will experience further along the trail. We reclaimed almost 20 acres of native prairie remnants through grants from the Missouri Department of Conservation and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Without management these areas would have also been swallowed up with brush and trees and the unique creatures and wildflowers would have been lost. They are currently at peak flower with classic flowers in gold, white and lavender so typical of the native prairie wildflower palate.

Here's a closeup of one of our unique prairie wildflowers: the Eared False-Foxglove (Aureolaria pedicularia). This wildflower was reviewed as a candidate as a Federal Endangered Species but enough populations were located in the Heartland that it is now listed as a species of special concern. It's a great example of what we would have lost without proper management of our prairie remnants. I had never seen so many plants here before so it is a botanical success story.

Here's a beautiful billow of the Bur-Marigolds again -- they were simply stunning on Saturday! This species does not have the seeds that stick to you like the other members of this Genus (hence the name bur or tick in the name of flowers in this group) -- but Unbur-Marigold or Tickless-Sunflower are even worse names!

The beautiful Rough Blazingstar (Liatris aspera) was in full bloom Saturday too. It is a magnet for migrating Monarch butterflies to nectar on.

Here's a view looking back across the largest area of our prairie restorations. Once upon a time the whole ridge was prairie with just scattered brush and copses of trees. You can see the distant clouds coming in from the north by late morning.

The shrubs with the white berries along the trail are Rough-leaved Dogwood (Cornus drummondii). These are a major food and fuel source for migrating birds as they're very rich in fats. The hot & dry weather this summer lowered the amount of berries produced so birds will have to work a little harder to find food as they migrate. The parched areas south of here in Oklahoma and Texas will be another hazard for migrants on their way back to their winter homes in the tropics of Latin America.

The bright green foliage in this scene are fresh new leaves on the hackberry trees! We had such a super abundance of two butterflies: the Hackberry and Tawny Emperors this year that their caterpillars stripped many hackberries bare. Many of the smaller hackberry trees sent out new leaves this fall.

The American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea) have fully taken over our Clay Pond along the trail. Just two weeks ago some of these were still in flower: our most spectacular native wildflower with magnificent yellow blooms that peak in July and August.

The clouds over the clay pond was a perfect "Mackerel" sky: a precursor to a coming rain! Yes this type of cloud is named after the fish and I hope you can see the resemblance here.

Many gnarly old Osage Oranges (Maclura pomifera) can be seen along the trail and in some spots you can even see that they are in hedgerows that once were living fences planted on the plains before barbwire was invented.

The prairie remnants long the trail display many wild grasses like these Wild Ryes (Elymus sp.). I haven't yet keyed out which one this is and it may be a natural hybrid between the Canada and Hairy Wild Ryes.

Here's another composition from one of the prairie remnants. Gold goldenrods (Solidago sp.), white Late Boneset (Eupatorium serotinum) and the lavender flowers are our native thistles (Cirsium discolor and C. altissimum)! We remove the invasive "noxious weed" non-native thistles but save the native ones as they are very important nectar plants and their seeds and down are utilized by many birds, especially the goldfinch which times its late nesting to coincide with their bloom.

Here's a look back at the final prairie remnant and you can see the clouds are almost overhead.

Here's a shot from our pine grove with a teenage Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda) as the focus of the shot. Pines were planted at Powell Gardens when it was a boyscout camp but have naturalized in this area that was formerly an orchard. Our new pine forest is composed of Loblolly, Virginia and Jack Pines -- the farthest north place in the heartland where Loblolly pines have naturalized.

I couldn't resist a shot up into the crown of a large White Ash (Fraxinus americana) next to the trail. You may all know that this tree, with valuable timber and source of the finest baseball bats; is threatened by the escape of the Emerald Ash Borer -- the tree has been destroyed wherever that Chinese bug has invaded. Will we be able to enjoy these magnificent trees here for generations to come?

Just down the path I had to take another tree shot: the crown of a Black Walnut (Juglans nigra). Here's another tree that is abundant at Powell Gardens, THE most valuable timber tree and threatened by a Western disease, the thousand cankers disease, which is moving eastward. It will certainly be a tragedy if these trees are killed in the future and it goes well beyond their $$$ value into the ecological disaster. Many insects are tied to this tree and thus many birds -- it's the favorite host plant (caterpillar food) of our spectacular green-tailed Luna Moths.

Near the end of the trail you cross the northwest corner of a hayfield that was recently baled. A backlit shot but a classic pastoral scene that is part of the trail's experience! We cut the field only after August 1st to ensure the Eastern Meadowlarks and other grassland birds have had time to nest and fledged their young.

Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra) sports its clusters of red, fuzzy fruit and is already starting to turn the brilliant warm tones it displays for autumn. This is the only woody plant native to all 48 of the lower United States and is very tough. Its fruit is an emergency source of food for birds in winter and it will probably end up an important food source for birds this year. Only female plants produce the berries so those without berries are likely male.

The final hedgerow you pass through at the end of the trail has lots of vines on it: Heart-leaved Ampelopsis or Raccoon-Grape (Ampelopsis cordata). This rampant but native woody vine is a major wildlife plant but is considered too invasive for most gardens. It has gorgeous porcelain violet-blue berries (yes it is the native version of the porcelain vine) but the fruit is not edible like its grape cousins.

The trail used to end in a grove of Scotch Pine (Pinus sylvestris) but pine wilt disease has killed almost all the trees.

We planted many little Green Giant Arborvitae between the pines as we knew the epidemic was coming and we are glad we did. Note the wonderful arborvitaes are nearly 20 feet tall now.

I always stop by the Rock & Waterfall Garden on my way back from the end of the trail. It is such a lush respite during the growing season. The large-leaved tree in this picture is the Missouri native Umbrella Magnolia (Magnolia tripetala) which adds a tropical looking flair to any woodland garden.

Kansas's state flower the Annual Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) graces the meadow (prairie planting) between the Rock & Waterfall and Island Gardens. It is one my favorite and quintessential wildflowers of the season!

A view to the chapel reveals the unique clouds of the disturbed weather that was arriving. It actually didn't rain until late afternoon.

Last stop a look at the Island Garden and its pools filled with gorgeous water plants. The Waterlilies are at their peak of bloom now.

Consider a trek on the Byron Shutz Nature Trail during your next visit to Powell Gardens. It is great exercise and provides a look at the wild side of the gardens 970 acres. Now may be the premier season for its wildflowers and the weather couldn't be better!

The Birth of Trees

The old saying from tiny acorns, mighty oak trees grow is a good one. Trees, some of our largest living organisms, begin life from seeds. Powell Gardens does propagate some of its trees from seed. If we want to protect and display a particular population of plants, this is often the only way to do so. Why protect a particular population? We know that the wild trees from a specific area often have traits that make them more adapted to a particular region. It is well documented that many trees with widespread ranges (say Eastern North America), those from the more southern part of the range may not be winter hardy in the northern part of their range and those from northern parts languish in the heat when planted in the southern part of their range. Trees from drier regions of their range are often more drought tolerant is another example. Sometimes certain populations have more disease resistance too.

Here is a tray of young Butternut (Juglans cinerea) trees that have germinated from butternuts collected from underneath a wild tree not far from here. Butternut is a tree in trouble -- an imported canker disease has wiped it out from much of its range. Where I grew up I have watched all the mature trees die, a few saplings still grow but all are infested with the canker. Before long, they will be gone as remaining trees never live long enough to produce nuts (their seed). Powell Gardens is just past the butternut's native range, so trees planted here do not yet get canker disease.

Here is a closer look of young butternut trees. Seeing the luxuriant growth of these young seedlings inspired me to write this blog. I hope one day they will grow and produce the tasty, football shaped nuts beneath their uniquely flat-topped crowns. Their beautiful silvery plated, charcoal striped trunks protect a most beautiful light colored wood -- too rare to be of commercial importance.

Marie Frye (Senior Gardener -- Plant Records & Collections) is in charge of growing all our unique trees. Here she takes a closer look at her baby butternuts as today they will be transplanted into individual deep, open bottom pots so that they can grow strong roots that will be naturally "air pruned" as their roots reach the bottom of their new container. This is a good way to grow plants that have deep tap roots as seedlings.


Marie planted many Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata) nuts too. See my Old Hickory blog for part of their story. These are grown in competition for a national program sponsored by a local garden club. Shagbark Hickories grow roots and not crowns for the beginning of their life so are not available at local nurseries (they are not cheap to produce and take time). They are very ornamental and important trees and these will be planted at various locations around the metro so their kind will not be lost.


Here are seedlings of Cucumber Magnolia (Magnolia acuminata). Cucumber Magnolia is a large shade tree native on the west side of the Appalachians from Ontario to Alabama and makes a fine shade tree here but is rarely if ever available at nurseries. These are grown from seed of the magnificent tree near the Southwest corner of Loose Park.



Sometimes we do propagate trees from cuttings to ensure an exact clone of a plant. This is a cutting grown young Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora). Because we are at the northernmost place where they will successfully grow outdoors, we have propagated some of the region's best examples to find a more hardy one for local gardens.


It hard to believe that this tiny seedling is from the largest tree in our region! This is a seedling of a Baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) grown from a massive, 8 foot diameter trunked tree near Mayview. Eric Tschanz (Powell Gardens Director) and I stopped in to visit its owner and collect seed on the way back from a meeting in Columbia. Obviously this tree has the genes to be a survivor in our region. Someday I would like to propagate all of Greater Kansas City's champion trees for planting at Powell Gardens.


These are seedlings of wild Flowering Dogwoods (Cornus florida) grown from trees on the western edge of their range not far from here. We hope they are better able to survive the vagaries of our weather as Flowering Dogwood can be fickle here -- if planted from too far south it is not hardy or if from too far east it doesn't like our lower humidity and rainfall.



This is a Dwarf Hackberry (Celtis tenuifolia) seedling from a local wild tree. Dwarf Hackberry is not the most ornamental of trees but is very heat and drought tolerant, hosts 5 species of butterflies' caterpillars, produces sweet berries for us and birds, and grows only 15 to 18 ft. tall at maturity.



Speaking of edible plants, these are seedlings of some of our select Pawpaws (Asimina triloba) now growing in the yet to open Heartland Harvest Garden. Maybe one day they will produce the best tasting pawpaws ever! A good way to find new varieties is to plant out seedlings and test them over time.


This seedling has traveled around the world. It is a Pistachio (Pistachia vera) grown from the hardiest known Pistachios in Uzbekistan. We purchased it from One Green World which is a great nursery that introduces hardy edible plants from around the world. This is one of 3 seedlings -- Pistachios are male and female plants and you can't tell the boys from the girls until they start to bloom. These seedlings will be planted in the Fun Food Garden section of the Heartland Harvest Garden.



The tall spindly tree in this picture is of a very special plant started from a special population of trees. It is an Oklahoma Live Oak (Quercus fusiformis) donated by Steve Bierberich,owner of Sunshine Nursery in Clinton, OK. It is grown from a relic, disjunct Oklahoma population of the Escarpment Live Oak (the same live oaks you see in Austin, Texas). It has proven to have good hardiness into the lower Midwest! Our two trees will be planted in the Vineyard portion of the Heartland Harvest Garden where they will add to the Mediterranean theme of that garden. The acorns of this species are very low tanin and were once an important human food source.

May this blog inspire you to plant trees, from seed or from your favorite nursery: just get out and plant them! As 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Wangari Maathai, who started The Green Belt Movement to plant trees and restore the environment and democracy in Kenya, said in her acceptance speech "to give back to the children a world of wonder and beauty." Wangari Maathai also has a Greater Kansas City connection as she received her bachelor's degree in biology from what is now Benedictine College in Atchison, KS.
All photographs were taken in Powell Gardens' greenhouses on April 15, 2009.