Ditch the Fall Foliage Trip

Now is the time when many Long Island families pack up their mini-vans and head up to New England to feast their eyes on the region’s beautiful fall foliage display.  Mom and Dad drive hours to get to New Hampshire or Vermont so that the little kiddies in the back seat can be enthralled when they see bright yellow trees grace the hillsides, their little faces squished against the window…

The whole concept of driving hours on end to see a bunch of trees seems a little bit foreign to me.  Maybe it’s because I never did this growing-up – certainly my family wasn’t the exemplary, traditional, suburban household!  But I think the real reason I find this tradition so strange is that we have beautiful fall foliage trees right here in our own backyard!  You may have to hunt for them a little harder, but they are certainly here.  Two little-known trees I want to highlight are our native Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica) and Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboretum).  These two trees will blow the leaves right off any New England maple! 

Black Gum is a medium to large stature tree that develops flaming deep red fall color by mid-October.  It is a native tree to Long Island and grows naturally in moist, wetland areas.  It will also grow well in drier garden soil, so long as it is acidic.  It has an oval crown with thick, craggy branches that provide a distinct look in the landscape.  When planting Black Gum, one should always choose containerized trees because an insufficient number of roots of this coarse-rooted tree will be left in most balled-and-burlapped trees.  Have patience, because this tree is a slow grower. 

Photo: Black Gum, Bayard Cutting Arboretum, Great River





Unlike Black Gum, Sourwood is a small tree that is great for smaller properties.  Its large leaves turn a brilliant burgundy in the fall.   Sourwood is native to Pennsylvania and south through the Appalachians.  Sourwood loves sandy, acidic soils which are quite plentiful here on Long Island.  It also grows naturally around wetlands, but is also very drought-tolerant.  Sourwood is also shade-tolerant and perfect for woodland gardens.  If that wasn’t enough, Sourwood also has ornamental, cream-colored flowers in early summer.  Both Black Gum and Sourwood need specific soil conditions for successful planting, but their unrivaled fall color is certainly worth the extra effort!

Photo: Sourwood Fall Foliage





So before you make the fall foliage trip up to New England, check out the beautiful trees growing right in your own backyard.  If you don’t have any, consider planting some unique trees like Black Gum or Sourwood.  You will be sure that every fall they will thank you!

A Bug Eat Bug World

Our first Saturday of fall was a rare gift of warm weather and low humidity; everyone was outside enjoying the Indian-summer, busily ignoring the fact that cold weather was right around the corner.  I was no exception and decided to take advantage of the beautiful day by heading over to our local nature preserve.  I had volunteered by planting some grasses and perennials the last time I was there, and I wanted to see how they were doing.  When I got there, I walked up the hill to the little 10 foot by 10 foot plot of land that I had declared as mine and worthy of sweat and toil.  Over the summer, I had planted Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) which are both native grasses that at one time covered much of Nassau County when it had been the Hempstead Plains, a long, long, time ago.  I was surprised to see how well the grasses had taken despite the summer drought.  With a little bit of hand-watering from other volunteers, the plants were about a foot tall with lush green foliage.  The Switchgrass had filled in nicely and the airy inflorescences or seed heads danced around in the light wind.  The Big Bluestem was by no means big yet, but it had grown significantly and the fuzzy blue stems made it look at least somewhat ornamental. 

In between the two grasses I had also planted about five individual Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) plants.  You can probably imagine that SWAMP Milkweed likes wet soil, but I decided to plant it in this drier spot anyway.  Surprisingly, it too was doing well!  Boy, I was on a roll!  Perhaps these little plants might even self-sow if given the opportunity!  I stooped down and began to pull out the weeds that had popped up between the grasses and Milkweed.  I yanked at the craggy crabgrass, the prostrate spurge, the Kentucky bluegrass, and the other various unidentified weeds that were competing for space, water, light, and nutrients.  As I was pulling out a rather tenacious crabgrass, I noticed some tiny orange spots on the stem and leaf undersides of a Milkweed.  I checked the four other Milkweeds and they had orange spots too!  Could it be the eggs of Monarch butterflies which absolutely love to feed on Milkweed?  No, because it wasn’t the right time of year and Monarch eggs are cream colored and are not clustered together….

Well, it turns out that my Milkweeds were under attack by tiny orange bugs called milkweed aphids!  Aphids injure plants by sucking out the sweet, nutritious plant juices.  And if that wasn’t enough, a black sooty fungus grows on top of the aphids’ excrement which ends up covering the plant and blocking sunlight from reaching the leaves.  YUCK I guess next time I will plant my Milkweed in the right spot – one that has nice wet soil.  But I didn’t give up on my sorry Milkweeds yet, because I also saw some friendly ladybugs nearby.  The ladybugs (really lady beetles) love all kinds of aphids and voraciously eat them, keeping the population in check, and my Milkweeds healthy. 

How in the world all these insects found my tiny group of plants is beyond me!  They must have a sixth bug-sense or something.  After I finished weeding, I walked back down the hill again, glad that the aphids wouldn’t bother the Switchgrass or the Big Bluestem.  But I hope that those ladybugs have a big appetite!

Highway Trees

I travel about 80 miles on the Long Island Expressway going back and forth to the North Fork to work every day.  Thank GOD I am traveling against traffic, or else I wouldn't have the patience to make it there and back!  (Now, before you start harping that I should reduce my carbon footprint, I would like to say that where my boyfriend and I live is about half way between our two jobs, and YES I am saving up for that hybrid!)   So as I am making my daily pilgrimage out east, I can count on the car accidents, the cops pulling people over in the HOV lane, and the occasional abandoned cars on the shoulder to keep me entertained during my long drive....But what really keeps me amused is looking out the window at the trees.  The flash of color from a red maple in the fall, the stately outline of oaks in the winter, the continuous white bloom of pears in the spring...  These highway trees let me know in an instant how we're coming along with the seasons and what the weather's been up to lately. 
At the beginning of July, after a drought and 100+ temperatures, I sadly noted the brown and crispy leaves of a group of honeylocust trees on the south side of the highway.  All highway trees have a tough life - after being planted, they have to be tough and persevere without supplemental water, mulch, and care.  This small group of honeylocusts I would guess were planted about three years ago, and had already survived three seasons of hot summers and cold winters, diligently pushing out new roots and photosynthesizing leaves.  It was sad to see that they just couldn't keep pushing on and had succumbed to the fate of many a highway tree.  Lifeless brown foliage clung to the almost bare branches.  But about a month later, I realized that these honeylocusts were in fact not dead!  They had leafed out and regrown a whole new set of leaves!  By relying on the food that they had already photosynthesized and stored in their roots, these trees were able to tap into their "emergency" fund and regrow a new canopy.  Yet, by tapping into stored reserves in the summer, these trees will have less food stores heading into winter, perhaps making them more susceptible to winter injury and slow to leaf out in the spring.  What a delicate balancing act a tree must perform!  They make balancing a checkbook look easy!  For now though, I'll enjoy my group of highway honeylocusts as their leaves begin to take on a golden hue.  Heading into fall, the days are becoming shorter and the nights are becoming cooler, and I can't help staring out the window at the highway trees ablaze in their golden yellows and fiery reds.  

For my very first post, I'd like to welcome you to my blog!  WELCOME!  So why did I start a blog you ask?  (Heh- well, I am asking myself the same question, now that I can't seem to get past WELCOME.)  In all seriousness, I am trying to connect with as many people as possible - to do outreach, to improve our environment, to enhance our future... yada yada yada.  Lofty goals, you might say, but that's my job as an Cornell Extension Agent.  My full time job is to help nursery growers, landscapers, arborists, landscape architects and other horticulture professionals with whatever issues that they need help answering.  Unfortunately, this doesn't leave much time for interacting with the public and gardening enthusiasts, like yourself!  There's lots going on in horticulture and gardening on Long Island these days and you deserve to know about it!  And since sooo many people are spending soooo much time online, why not make a blog?  I'll be bringing you scientific updates, news flashes, event information, and sharing my own personal gardening stories.  I hope that once you start following me, Long Island's Garden Girl, you'll be able to find your own inner green thumb!