Durham Garden Forum – Herbicides: Controversies and Alternatives Tuesday, November 19⋅7:00 – 8:30pm Sarah P. Duke Gardens 420 Anderson St, Durham, NC 27708 Herbicides: Controversies and Alternatives – Nov. 19 with Dr. Ashley Troth, Durham County Cooperative Extension Agriculture Agent We have all been hearing about the dangers of common herbicides. Ashley will discuss current research, review common alternatives and reinforce the idea that this all suggests that an Integrated Pest Management approach is the best and healthiest choice.
The Durham Garden Forum is an informal group that meets once a month to enrich our gardening knowledge and skill. Tuesdays, 7:00- 8:30 pm at Sarah P. Duke Gardens. Lectures free for members, $10 general public. No pre-registration necessary.
Maple trees
are among the most popular shade trees in America. They grow fast and tall,
averaging 40 feet but capable of reaching 120 feet. I remember the one in the
backyard of my childhood home on Long Island. We lived in a suburban development
typical of its time: Finished in the late 1960s, the homes were similar in size
and layout and every house sat on the same amount of land which was some
measure of an acre. The community was called Point of Woods – which was
humorous as most of the “woods” were cleared in order to build the houses. Most
homes were surrounded by large areas of lawn. The yard cried out for a shade
tree. Enter the maple.
Our maple
tree felt special. My grandmother spotted the seedling growing in her tiny
urban yard in Queens, a borough of New York City. Mature maples lined her two-way
street; they were so large that their tops completely shaded the street and
their shallow roots buckled the sidewalks. Grandma was no stranger to gardening
so she nurtured that seedling for a bit and then potted it up and brought it to
Long Island to plant in our new backyard. With lots of attention, but little
actual care, it grew fast and tall and quickly delivered welcome shade.
Alas, I have no (good) photo to share of the maple of my youth. Besides, my tree may have been the invasive (!) Norway maple (Acer platanoides) which was widely planted as a street and shade tree back in the day. I have something much better to share with you — a spectacular red maple tree that has, for years, graced the Durham County, NC yard of a fellow master gardener.
Through all the seasons this magnificent red maple (Acer rubrum) brings such joy to me and those who pass by just by being exactly what it is: A festival of color in the fall, a base to connect decorations to, elegant in the new fallen snow and a wonderful cover for my summer outdoor room. — Wanda C.
Red maple
trees are native deciduous trees. They tolerate a wide range of growing
conditions which may be why they seem to grow carefree. It is one of the first
native trees to flower in very early spring and there is something red about it
year-round. It has red twigs, buds, and flowers in winter, reddish new leaves
in spring, red leaf stalks and seeds in summer, and reddish (or yellow) foliage
in autumn. 1
There are a
number of types of maple trees and it is not easy to identify them from afar.
You need to observe their structure and then get close enough to observe the
bark, the leaves and their arrangement, the flower and/or the fruit. A
distinguishing characteristic of the red maple (in addition to its overwhelming
redness as described above), is that the edge of its leaf, also known as the
margin, is highly serrated.
To learn
more about the characteristics of other maple trees, consult the NC Extension
Gardener Plant Toolbox online.
Photos by Wanda Cruthfield, used with permission.
Footnotes
1. Spira, Timothy P., Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains & Piedmont, 2011 University of North Carolina Press
