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Trees: The Gift of Love

© Georgene Bramlage

Dominating the lawn on the crest of one of its many slopes is a weeping white pine (Pinus strobus 'Contorta'). This was a housewarming gift in 1970 from a friend who went on to have a remarkable horticultural career before dying in a shocking automobile accident. He undoubtedly knew the significance of what he was sending. We, on the other hand, were aghast as we opened the box, asking, "Why would anyone send a white pine to New England?" Fortunately, there was a tag with the tree.

Despite our greenhorn skills, we managed to site the tree properly and it has proved to not only thrive but to become a traffic stopper. To the unknowing, it continues to look for all the world like a regular white pine with its top blown out. However, I love its open, twisted way of growing and recognize it as a superior tribute to our friend's insightfulness.

Along the south side of the house is a katsura tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) planted in 1986 as a sapling. Ours is an offspring of one growing in front of the old Episcopal rectory in Amherst, MA. It was raised from a collection of seeds and seedlings brought from Hokkaido, Japan in 1877 by University of Massachusetts President William S. Clark. Growing anywhere from 40 to 60 feet in height, it is probably better suited as a street tree than as one planted in a residential garden. Fortunately, we have it sited where it receives adequate moisture, ample room to spread and can easily be seen from inside the house.

The rich coloration of both bark and leaves and its neat pyramidal shape give the katsura tree my vote as another all-season tree for New England. The new heart-shaped leaves emerge as reddish purple and over the summer fade to a blue-green suggestive of ocean water. Autumn leaf coloration tends to be yellow for some trees; my katsura tree leaves fade to a more subtle orange or apricot color. The bark is a gray-brown, slightly shaggy, but tidy. To me, the katsura tree signifies not only beauty, but also historical attachment. It characterizes Clark's enthusiasm and affection for wonderful plants as well as for the citizens of his hometown.

A short distance away from the katsura tree is a sweet gum tree (Liquidambar styraciflua) better known in the southern states as a timber tree. Sweet gum trees occur naturally as far north as southern Connecticut, but with care can be hardy in a garden setting up into western Massachusetts. This tree struggles a little here, but is holding its own at about fifteen feet in height. It was a gift in 1980, as a seedling, from one of my professors, now also deceased, after one of his collecting trips to the southern U.S.