A14 - North Shore News - Wednesday, February 6, 2013
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Winter a good time to ogle showy tree bark walked through the garden. “I am looking for trees with good bark to plant in my garden — and nothing boring, I want spectacular.”
Dig Deep
Todd Major “SHOW me some good bark,” she said as we
That was part of a conversation I had last week with an interested gardener from Seattle who was visiting the UBC Botanical Garden. She was visiting friends in Vancouver and stopped by the garden to look at the extensive plant collections in search of one thing: good bark. Winter is definitely a good
ON TIME-ON BUDGET
time to look at tree bark because few people think about bark when trees are in full leaf during summer. I don’t recommend choosing a tree solely based on its bark. There’s far more to consider when choosing a tree for the garden, such as mature height, spread and preferred conditions to name a few. But good bark does catch the eye during our dull gray winters. Ultimately, choosing trees comes down to commercial availability. If you can’t find it at the garden centre, you can’t buy it — at least not easily. There are plant sales held at local Vancouver botanical gardens, but tree bark is rarely the focus of these sales. There are also plant collectors who specialize in interesting trees and if you can find them, you can buy some spindly little whip of a tree and wait 10 years to enjoy the bark. Thanks, but I am getting older and I may be too blind to see that pretty bark before too long, so I need a sizable tree now. With all of that in mind, here are some trees with good bark that should be available at your local garden centre. The birches (Betula species) are widely known to have white to pale brown
bark that flakes and exfoliates in pieces and strips, quite lovely. There is, however, one problem with almost all birches, the bronze birch borer which is a vigorous bark beetle that loves to eat birch trees. The Himalayan birch (Betula utilis jacquemontii), white birch (Betula papyrifera) and the European birch or silver birch (Betula pendula), are all susceptible to the bronze birch borer. The river birch (Betula nigra) has moderate to good resistance to bronze birch borer depending on where it is planted and how it is pruned. Its bark is pale white with cream and orangeypink highlights that exfoliates in strips and pieces. This tree is a bit large for most yards growing 20 metres at maturity, but lovely nonetheless. The maples (Acer species) are known to produce some good barkers within their ranks. The Manitoba maple (Acer negundo) has attractive whitish streaked bark when young but it’s a big grower, too big for most yards but it can be continually pruned every other year to keep it small which also produces the most colourful young stems and bark. The coral See Japanese page 18
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THE silver bark of a birch tree can look lovely in the garden. However, the tree is susceptible to a bark beetle known as the bronze birch borer.
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