The Rural Voice, 2000-12, Page 38Gardening
Think trees, shrubs for Christmas gifts
By Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
The year 2000 has been a year of
new plantings in our yard. I think we
have planted more trees and shrubs in
the past year than we have in the last
five. A few were selected for their
obvious appearance, like the witch
hazel with its exotic blooms in fall
after its leaves have dropped, and
others for their sentimental value like
the snowberry that used to grow in
my great grandmother's garden.
Others were planted for their
durability and pleasure to be enjoyed
in the future. This fall we were
fortunate to be able to purchase 14
butternut trees. The initial plan was
for six but the deal was a good one
and we thought how hard could it be
to plant 14 two -foot trees? Think
again. Every hole around here is a
chore; picking away at stones and
digging twice as deep to back fill
with compost or top soil.
Then we had the great idea to
share the trees with family and
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34 THE RURAL VOICE
friends and have them growing all
over the county. They don't have to
be growing in our back yard for us to
enjoy. So we had eight wonderful
little trees left to plant.
Then I did some reading. The
butternut is also known as the white
walnut and, yes you guessed it, a
member of the black walnut family,
Juglans.. Like the black walnut,
butternut secretes a substance called
juglone which makes soil conditions
difficult for some plants, although not
as bad as the black walnut.
With this in
mind I
rethought about
planting them near
the perennial
border or the
vegetable
garden.
When I
looked at all
the black walnuts laying in
the garden now and of all the
messy leaf branchlets, I decided to
plant the butternuts in the lane and
around the barn. They will make a
welcome addition to the property.
• Butternut are not normally a forest
tree but found in scattered groups in
with beech, sugar maple. white ash,
white elm, and oaks and basswood. It
has a short life span of 80 years and
the wood is soft and used for
finishing furniture, cabinet work and
small household wooden tools like
butter paddies. I have been checking
my wooden spoons and paddles
hoping one would be made of
butternut.
These wonderful trees grow in
what we term the Carolinian zone
which stretches from roughly Grand
Bend in the northwest portion of
southern Ontario around Lake Erie to
the southern tip of Lake Ontario. The
170 frost -free days in the year
encourages a unique blend of
hardwoods such as the Kentucky
coffee tree, cucumber tree, tulip tree,
paw paw and black gum. With this
comes a wonderful array of flora and
fauna. We are fortunate to have
pockets of these forests around Huron
County; a unique eco system that
helps preserve delicate plant species
and unusual creatures like the box
turtle.
You know where this idea is
going. It becomes harder and harder
to buy gifts when there are so many
wonderful ways to spend your hard
earned dollars. I would like to
encourage everyone to buy gift
certificates for trees, especially some
of the lovely Carolinian varieties, yet
we know that we do not all live in the
best growing conditions.
So look to some of the native
species that thrive in our own area.
There are some lovely trees and
shrubs that will amaze you. The
linden tree has very small
.,� °' inconspicuous blossoms yet when
►++ you walk under one in June you are
rojeimmediately captivated by the most
wonderful fragrance. A large part of
-�-,_ ,, our Rural Voice readership
area is in the Great Lakes -
St. Lawrence Forest Region
and here we can try a variety
of pine, hemlock and balsam fir.
Don't overlook the maples and the
ever graceful birch trees.
If your gift has to be scaled down
for smaller yards look to some of the
viburnum family. Many of you will
recognize the ever popular high bush
cranberry. Viburnums are a large
family of hardy shrubs with a variety
of coloured fruits attractive to birds.
Don't overlook the Hobble bush
which grows under trees, has early
flowers and vivid red fall colour and
the Nannyberry with wonderful
purplish red fall colour. I have a
Nannyberry just because I like the
name. Both are Canadian beauties.
Well, I feel the editor breathing down
my keyboard. It is the end of another
wonderful year. Lots done and not
enough done, but I think that is the
way for everyone now. Here is a toast
to you and yours. May your garden
be blooming before the weeds sprout
and may it only rain when we need it.
Merry Christmas and Happy New
Year.O
Rhea Hamilton -Seeger and her
husband raise two children at their
home near Auburn. She is a skilled
cook and gardener.