It’s all about trees

One thing I was reminded of while in Seattle on our Garden Conservancy trip is how important trees are in a garden – especially mature trees. They contribute to the feeling of serenity in a garden, not to mention shade during warm summer months. And there are so many beautiful trees to enjoy! This was Alex’s highlight and biggest take-away of the week.

The most common trees we saw in the Seattle area were many varieties I’d never before seen of magnolias, dogwoods, Japanese maples and one or more of the following: cedars, redwoods, hemlocks and/or pines. Lovely…

We identified 4 must-have trees for our garden – if we determine they can grow successfully in the Napa Valley.

1. Stewartia (also sometimes spelled Stuartia). I loved this tree for its smooth bark, lovely branches, beautiful foliage and flowers, and scale. It is related to the camellia (no wonder I love it) and most of the species come from eastern Asia. This tree has been adapted to acidic soil, and does not tolerate drought conditions. It’s very possible that this tree won’t work for us because of the last two points, but I’m going to check with local growers anyway.
2. ‘Heartthrob’ and ‘Starlight’ Dogwoods. While there were many varieties of dogwood that we fawned over (including the show stopper ‘Venus’), I think my two favorites of the week were 1) ‘Starlight’ with its graceful limbs and large white flowers and 2) ‘Heartthrob’ with its beautiful pink blooms. The ‘Starlight’ flowers closely resemble my ‘Eddie’s Wonder’ but the tree with its branches is more graceful and less full.
3. Magnolia ‘Sieboldii’ (not the ‘Collosus’ variety, which is much larger). I saw this variety in a couple of gardens, and I fell in love with it. This magnolia has lovely upside-down cup-like white flowers before opening into the lovely flowers pictured below.So delicate and beautiful. While I was googling the spelling of this particular magnolia, I found a fun site with several varieties – the Honey Tree Nursery. If you want to go crazy looking at beautiful flowers from the myriad of magnolia trees, check it out! I’m going to take my time to pick out the perfect variety for our Napa home, but this will be the first variety I investigate.
4. Acer Japonica ‘Aconitifolium’ or Fern Leaf Maple. WOW is all I can say. Such a beautiful tree! While this picture doesn’t do its graceful branches and leaves justice, you can get a sense of the scale of this delicate tree. Before we make a final decision on our variety, I’ll visit Wildwood Nursery in Sonoma to check out all of the varieties that will grow well in our climate. However, I will definitely ask about this variety.

In addition to identifying trees we’d like to add to our collection, we saw some odd things hanging from some of the trees – so interesting!

Check out this Davidia involucrata or handkerchief tree, named for the white flowers which resemble handkerchiefs.

I’m not sure which pine this is, but I loved this emerging cone.

And many trees had really interesting bark and trunks, like the pictures below.

I am grateful for this reminder of the importance of trees in a garden. Adding these trees to our garden today is investing in the garden for generations to come.