Bloom Day April 2013 – The Trees of East Delta Park

Spring sports season is in full swing.  Our family attended 2 baseball games and 4 soccer games this weekend, plus one soccer practice.  Three of the soccer games were held here.

When we arrived at 8:30 Saturday morning, this is what we saw.

Powerline clearance and tree trimmer apprenticeship training.

That got me started on noticing the trees all throughout the park.  On previous visits, I focused only on finding parking, finding the assigned soccer field, and watching my kids’ games.

Saturday night by chance I noticed while reading in the Reynolds and Dimon Trees of Greater Portland, there was mention of the Portland Forestry Division experimental plots at East Delta Park.  So I printed out this tree map and information brochure and took it with me when we left for Sunday’s soccer games.  You can bet I’ll be paying more attention to the trees I’m parked under from now on.

Too much to take in at one time, and too much to say, but since today is Bloom Day, I’m going to do my best to just match up blooms pictured below with names on the map.

Redbud, Cercis sp. (not included on map, more recently planted than most)

Profusion crabapple, Malus ‘Profusion’ (I think)

Galaxy Magnolia, hybrid of Magnolia liliflora ‘Nigra’ x M. sprengeri ‘Diva’

Sargent crabapple, Malus ‘Sargent’

Kwanzan cherry, Prunus serrulata ‘Kwanzan’

It’s too much, don’t you think?  Even the tree itself is burdened by the weight of such heavy blooms.

OK, I promise this is the last pink you’ll see in this post.  Centurion crabapple, Malus ‘Centzam.’

Now for something really cool, the flowers on this Globehead European ash, Fraxinus excelsior ‘Globosa.’

Makes a nice silhouette too:

This hedge maple, Acer campestre, was glowing with the yellow hue of flowers against the green foliage.

And a close up of the flowers.

OK, and in case you’re wondering, I did miss out on seeing my son’s soccer goals, but only because of parenting accompany siblings — these photos were all taken during team warm ups.

Aliens

There’s a wonderful school yard at Meek School, NE 40th and Alberta, where I often go, joining other dog owners to take advantage of a wide fenced in field for dogs who need to run.

While I’m there I’m focused on playing with the dog, while also trying to keep an eye out for the safety of any kids who are with me.  So I hadn’t really closely examined the trees planted here, but I did take note that the selection was odd — not your regular every day school yard trees.  Recently I learned through the Friends of Trees blog about this Concordia Tree Team project. Yesterday I took a closer look.

Oaks that retain their leaves, and conifers that drop their needles.  OK, maybe not that unusual, but opposite of what one might first think.

   

I couldn’t resist examining them up close:

   

Other than the ginkgos and umbrella pines, I don’t recognize any of these.  When they’re more fully leafed out I can work on getting to know who’s who.  But from the online project write-up, I know that the list includes:  oaks (including canyon live oak), three different types of hackberry trees, umbrella pines, and deciduous conifers dawn redwood and a bald cypress. Today I just appreciated the beauty of both familiar features and the unusual character of these emerging leaves.

  

  

       

  

Note the contrasting undersides of the leaves below:

  

The form of some trees was interesting too:

  

I love the bright color of this foliage.

I hope to post more useful and detailed information on this special place in the future.

Heritage Tree dog walk

Continuing with the Arbor Month Heritage Tree focus…

Today I visited 3 Heritage Trees within a short walk of my home.  Since the dog couldn’t take my photo, I posed her in front of the first one.

This tree is just a few blocks from my house, but I never knew of its designation.  This is Heritage Tree #249 on NE Going Street. Horsechestnuts, Aesculus hippocastanum, are not my favorite tree maybe because they are so common, but even more so because they are often squeezed into streetside planting strips that are too narrow.  I don’t like seeing trees having to make do with less than they deserve, nor the resulting wonky sidewalks.  But this tree was looking so lovely this morning with the light filtering through it’s branches. A really handsome specimen, I’m going to work on appreciating this one a lot more.

   

After the first one I gave up on posing the dog, but here is Heritage Tree #262 on NE 10th Avenue, a tulip tree,  Liriodendron tulipifera. This one’s 100 feet tall, according to the Heritage Tree map tag.

  

The one I photographed a couple weeks ago didn’t have any leaves yet, but this one is well on its way:

I’ve driven past Heritage Tree #297 thousands of times on NE 8th and Prescott without taking note.  Now I’ll pay more attention.  I’m unfamiliar with Spanish chestnut, Castanea sativa. Reynolds and Dimon in Trees of Greater Portland mention that Spanish chestnuts can grow over 100 feet and live a 1,000 years. Also in the book I learned unlike the horsechestnut, this one is less likely to cause injury to pedestrians via dropping nuts. Cross-pollination is required making a solitary trees unproductive.

The Heritage Tree map shows that most in NE Portland are concentrated south of Fremont Avenue, a cluster at the base of Alameda ridge, and only a few outliers beyond. Kinda makes me want to go hunting around to find some candidate trees.

Out in left field?

I usually do a lot better in paying attention to my son’s baseball games, but tonight was just a scrimmage, a practice game.  My daughter doesn’t sit still in the bleachers and watch the game if there isn’t a critical mass of spectators there to chat up.  Other young siblings were roaming around and playing.  I worry a foul ball will land on her, so I was chasing her around when something out past the fence caught my eye.

Sorry, not a great shot of the tree, but it was evening and the light wasn’t helping me.

  

(What are those structures along the branch?  Leaf stipules? Elegant.)

Pretty, no?  Looked to me like a Prunus sp. — ornamental cherry? But I can’t remember ever noticing one with flowers arranged in a long raceme like this.  It stood out because most of the trees at the ball field perimeter are red maples, Acer rubrum, displaying only their winged seeds.

How do folks go about figuring out mystery plants, other than stumbling on them in nurseries and reading tags?  Yes, I used to use a dichotomous key to identify plants, but who needs that now when all you have to do is type a few descriptive words at the computer and then scroll through as many images as your browser will provide or you have time to peruse?

Of course no guarantees I’m right, but looks to me like Prunus padus, European birdcherry.  More photos and information about this species can be found on OSU’s website.

Ainsworth Linear Arboretum tour – April 6, 2013

I found this event on the Portland Parks and Recreation Arbor Month calendar.  I’ve wanted to know more about these trees along the median of NE Ainsworth for some time, and today was a perfect introduction, thanks to the leadership of Karl Dawson of Portland Parks and Recreation and Jim Gersbach, founder & curator of the arboretum.

Apologies in advance for the lack of photos – I’ll be back to this place quite a bit I’m sure, as the season moves forward to provide leafier subjects.

The arboretum is part of Jim’s effort to diversify Portland’s urban forest, a much recognized need following increased awareness about the vulnerability of the urban forest with a majority of trees represented by only a handful of species.  Large old maple trees are aging out, and we’re losing elms to Dutch elm disease.  Introducing an alternative to the convention of boulevard tree plantings of all one species, the Ainsworth Linear Arboretum reveals the diversity of trees that can be grown in our city.  At least sixty species are already represented in this 2-mile section of street median and wide curbside planting strip. Check here for more information on the arboretum, as well as the Friends of Trees blog.

Despite pouring rain as I write this Saturday night, and all of the previous night, the morning and midday dry weather encouraged me to walk over to the tour meeting spot from my home. Today’s tour covered just a section of the arboretum from NE 6th.  I’m not exactly sure how far east we walked, but we didn’t make as far as Alberta Park, which is at the corner of NE 19th.

Here Karl shows us the palmately compound leaf of a horse chestnut tree, Aesculus hippocastanum, which is common in some of Portland’s older neighborhoods.  He explained that residents tended to plant trees that were familiar to them as they settled this area from the east. Though not native to the US, this tree is widely planted.

Bigleaf maple, Acer macrophyllum, is a native tree distinguished from other maples (I learned today) by it’s pendent inflorescence. Flowers are held upright in other species.

Saucer magnolia, Magnolia soulangiana (I think) — we talked a bit about the ancient origins of magnolias. Pollination by beetles explains the robust structure of their flowers. 

The Ginkgo biloba were just beginning to leaf out.  Ginkgo trees always make me think of my native Japan, but I was reminded today that they are native to Oregon too — if you look in the fossil record back a few million years.

  

Jim Gersbach shows us a variegated tulip tree, Liriodendron tulipifera.  I assume it’s the cultivar called ‘Aureomarginatum.’  The foliage of this tree is going to be really eye catching when it gets a bit larger.  By the way, if you want to find out more about trees, Jim is definitely the person you want to hang out with.  All I can say is wow, he knows a LOT.  And no doubt what we learned from him today is just the tip of the iceberg.

Jim points out the opposite branching on this Raywood ash, Fraxinus angustifolia ‘Raywood.’

A disease resistant elm from Asia (oops, didn’t get the name) to please the folks who want a replacement for elms that are being lost:

Dramatic colors on these upheld new leaves of a tupelo (Nyssa sp.)

If you’d like to take this tour –which I highly recommend — there’s a map for self-guiding, or wait for the next tour, offered twice a year in the fall and spring.