Garden Notes : Trees for West Tisbury?

By Abigail Higgins
Published: October 23, 2008

The demise of the elms has left West Tisbury town center bereft of their sheltering presence and looking barren. Their disappearance, like the loss of old friends, saddens me, and many of my fellow townspeople as well. The trees were but a remnant of a once-lengthy tunnel of stately elms in West Tisbury, planted possibly just after the Civil War. This visual feast of trees used to stretch from the store to the garage, and out along Music Street as well - the heart, soul and lungs, figuratively and literally, of town.

While the taxpayers over the years have spent large sums to treat and maintain the elms, undoubtedly disease and the coincidence of the town hall renovation provided the rationale for doing away with them. Though a street lined with American elms is a tough act to follow, still it is my earnest hope that planning and funding are underway to replant and recreate the next generation of shade trees for a leafy, well-treed town center.

Dahlias, after waiting until September to begin, are now blooming their heads off. Likewise with salvias; this one is the mealycup sage, Salvia 'Blue Bedder.' After frost, the dahlias are cut back, dug, cured, and stored for next year. The salvias may over-winter.
Photo by Susan Safford

Speaking of tough, "street tree" is a tough job description. Parameters for street trees are different than for yard trees: they must fit where sited and also with respect to overhead wires or two-story tour buses. Street trees must tolerate pollution; heat; dry, compacted, or poor soils; road salt - conditions generally harsh and inhospitable to large, long-lived green organisms. Nonetheless much has been done in recent years to find, select, or breed trees that are up to the job.

Genera that I would be looking at, as possible replacements for the West Tisbury trees, or other situations where a street tree is needed, would include lindens (Tilia), sycamores (Platanus), zelkovas, oaks (Quercus) and elms (Ulmus). Maples, while beautiful and beloved by many and especially so at this time of year, are shallow rooted and as a genus are one of those most at risk from climate and air quality changes; as street trees they are currently a poor investment.

Bygone elms in front of the S.M. Mayhew Company store (now Alley's General Store) in West Tisbury.
Photo courtesy of the Martha's Vineyard Museum

Tar spot on maples

Thanks to an Oak Bluffs resident for the inquiry about tar spot on Norway maples, which has been prevalent this season. The UMass Extension landscape message had this to say about it:

"Tar spot on maple is visible on Norway maple leaves as black, tar-like fruiting structures massed within rounded, yellow-tan leaf spots. Spores from the fungus, Rhytisma [acerinum], infected the developing leaves last spring when there were extended periods of mild, wet weather. This provided optimal conditions for the Rhytisma fungus to infect the leaves. Tar spot infections do not threaten the fitness of an otherwise healthy tree. Most of the leaf area remained green throughout the summer, so the tree had plenty of leaf area to photosynthesize and produce what it needs to thrive. Reduce the potential for next year's infections by collecting and disposing of diseased leaves as they fall. This reduces the amount of inoculum available when conditions are cool and moist next spring and the fungus spores released from the fruiting structures can infect young maple leaves. Except to preserve the appearance of high value trees, applications of protective fungicides are unnecessary."

Street trees - some possibilities

• Liriodendron tulipifera, tulip tree

• Platanus x acerifolia, London plane Bloodgood,' 'Yarwood.'

• Tilia cordata 'Greenspire,' T. tomentosa 'Sterling Silver'

• Ulmus parvifolia, lacebark elm, 'Emer II,' (Emerald Vase)

• Ulmus americana selections 'Princeton,' 'Jefferson'

• Sophora japonica, pagoda tree 'Princeton Upright'

• Zelkova serrata, zelkova, 'Green Vase,' 'Village Green'

"Native Ferns, Moss & Grasses"

I put in a request for a review copy of William Cullina's "Native Ferns, Moss & Grasses" (256 ppg. Houghton Mifflin Co., 2008, $40) last November, which finally wended its way to me a couple of weeks ago. It is, despite its arcane subject matter, an engagingly written, beautifully photographed book, one that works for me and was worth the wait.

"Native Ferns, Moss & Grasses" is divided into four parts: Ferns; Mosses; Grasses, Sedges and Rushes; and Propagation, with an introduction to each plant group, a section on its anatomy, and an encyclopedic listing of the described plants. In addition, the sections on mosses and grasses include a helpful "gardening with" feature. At the back of the book are six comprehensive lists of useful information.

Within their families, these specialized plants, ferns, mosses, and grasses superficially resemble all their relatives. Because "Native Ferns, Moss & Grasses" does not attempt to encompass in exhaustive detail but rather in manageable fashion, three extremely perplexing and vast plant categories, this book is a boon to the general gardener (yet does not insult the expertise of the specialist gardener either). Cullina has given us more than enough to handle by editing and paring down the vast amount of ferns, grasses, and mosses to a list of subjects that are likely to be encountered or of interest: these we can learn. The gardener would then be well equipped, after mastering this level, to move on to sources of more detailed, esoteric knowledge.

Throughout, it is the author's easy familiarity with his native plant subjects - having observed, photographed, propagated, and grown them - that provides his writing with a descriptive freshness that is a boon to the bewildered novice. A garden is, or can be, an immensely personal thing, but a key to developing authentic, healthy gardens is observation of plants and their reaction to the conditions where they grow: their ecology. This is the information that Bill Cullina shares and conveys to the reader in "Native Ferns, Moss & Grasses."