Common Name: American Beauty Berry Botanical Name: Callicara
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Common Name: American Beauty Berry Botanical name: Callicara americana Plant Type: Perennial Light Requirement: Part Shade Water Requirement: Low Hardiness/Zone: 6 thru 10 Heat/Drought Tolerance: High Height: 3-5ft with equal spread; Width/Spacing:4 to 6 ft wide Flower Color: Small, pink Blooming Period: May, June, July Plant Form or Habit: Shrub Foliage Color and Texture: Deciduous Butterfly or bird attracter: Birds and butterflies Deer Resistant: No Plant Use: Valuable as a wildlife food plant. Good understory shrub. Pests and diseases: American beautyberry is a wonderful, large understory shrub with a naturally loose and graceful arching form. In the fall and early winter, the branches are laden with magenta purple (sometimes white) berry clusters that look spectacular as the leaves drop in autumn. It is useful as a screen in swampy or wooded locations or under shade trees in a garden setting. It can be cut to 12 above the base each winter to encourage more compact growth, flowers and fruit. It can also be left to mature naturally into a tall woody shrub. The shrub may temporarily defoliate and lose developing fruit during periods of prolonged summer drought Bark light brown on the older wood, reddish brown on younger wood. Bark smooth, with elongate, raised corky areas (lenticels); twigs round to 4 sided, covered with branched hairs visible under a l0x hand lens. Leaves in pairs or in threes, blades half as wide as long and up to 9 inches long, ovate to elliptic, pointed or blunt at the tip and tapered to the base; margins coarsely toothed except toward the base and near the tip, teeth pointed or rounded; lower surface of young leaves covered with branched hairs. Flowers small, pink, in dense clusters at the bases of the leaves, clusters usually not exceeding the leaf petioles. The seeds and berries are important foods for many species of birds, particularly the Northern Bobwhite. Foliage is a favorite of White-tailed Deer. Source of data: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CAAM2 http://forestry.about.com/od/silviculture/p/am_bberry.htm Extension programs service people of all ages regardless of socioeconomic level, race, color, sex, religion, disability, or national origin. The Texas A&M University System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the County Commissioners Courts of Texas Cooperating A member of The Texas A&M University System and its statewide Agriculture Program Common Name: Anacacho Orchid Tree Botanical name: Bauhinia lumariodes Type: Small tree or medium shrub Light Requirement: Sun, partial sun Water Requirement: Low Heat/Drought Tolerance: Medium Height: 8 to 12 feet Width/Spacing: 6 to 10 feet Flower Color: White or pink Blooming Period: Spring Plant Form or Habit: Large shrub, small tree Foliage Color and Texture: Deciduous. Split resembling cloven hoof. It may hold its leaves during mild winters. Butterfly or bird attracter: Bees, butterflies and birds Deer Resistant: No Plant Use: Shrub or small tree Although increasingly available from specialty nurseries, Anacacho orchid tree is rare in Texas, growing only in the Anacacho Mts. west of Uvalde and one other small site. It is more common in Mexico. Its delicate, unusual leaves are divided into pairs of two oval leaflets, and showy white or pink flower clusters resembling orchids appear from March through May. In its native habitat in Texas it grows on rocky limestone canyons, and needs well-drained soils to thrive. Its unique foliage and showy flowers make it a beautiful specimen plant, or as a container plant for small areas. If grown in afternoon shade, it is an open graceful tree. If grown in full sun, it is bushier and fuller. It is small enough to be included in a large flowerbed. Orchid trees make a gorgeous display with its silvery-gray bark and white flowers that resemble orchids. It is a rapid-growing tree and does best when planted on the south side of a building, protected from winter winds. It can be nipped back by extremely cold winters. Source of data: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/nativeshrubs/bauhinialunarioid.htm http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/growgreen/potw_anacacho.htm http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=BALU Extension programs service people of all ages regardless of socioeconomic level, race, color, sex, religion, disability, or national origin. The Texas A&M University System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the County Commissioners Courts of Texas Cooperating A member of The Texas A&M University System and its statewide Agriculture Program. Common Name: Arroyo Sweetwood Botanical name: Myrospermum sousanum Plant Type: Tree Light Requirement: Sun Water Requirement: Low Hardiness/Zone: 8a to 10b Heat/Drought Tolerance: Very Height: 10 to 20 ft Width/Spacing: 20 ft wide Flower Color: White Blooming Period: Mid spring Plant Form or Habit: Bush grown form Foliage Color and Texture: Deciduous Butterfly or bird attracter: Butterflies. Bees and birds Deer Resistant: Unknown Plant Use: Ornamental, small tree Pests and diseases: Unknown to science until 1982, this small tree with highly fragrant flowers makes a special addition to any yard in Austin. Discovered in Mexico by Texas botanist Lynn Lowrey, Arroyo Sweetwood prefers rocky limestone slopes like those of the gullies and stream banks (arroyos) where it was found. Grows quickly to form a deciduous, shrubby tree up to 20 feet tall, and as wide, and will bear numerous small white flowers in the spring. These flowers emit a very strong cinnamon / vanilla scent that will fill your yard. The wood is also very fragrant when cut, hence the 'sweetwood' part of the common name. Arroyo Sweetwood is native to soils which are very similar to ours, so feel free to put it in any area with dry, rocky, limestone-based soil. Should only require water for establishment, and full sun is fine. It will make a great shade tree to plant on the west side of your house. Its bushy growth form will shade the structure in the warmer months of the year and allow light into the windows once the leaves drop. A small deciduous tree to 15-20 feet. Fragrant, cream colored flowers. Attracts butterflies, bees, and birds. Likes alkaline soils and full sun. Also drought tolerant. Native to Mexico. Source of data: http://www.landscapemafia.com/LandscapePlants/arroyo-sweetwood http://www.wildflower.org/expert/show.php?id=1300 Extension programs service people of all ages regardless of socioeconomic level, race, color, sex, religion, disability, or national origin. The Texas A&M University System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the County Commissioners Courts of Texas Cooperating A member of The Texas A&M University System and its statewide Agriculture Program Common Name: Texas Ash Botanical name: Fraxinus texensis Type: Tree Light Requirement: Sun, part shade Water Requirement: Medium Height: 30 – 40 feet Width/Spacing: 40 feet wide Flower Color: Green Blooming Period: April, May, June Plant Form or Habit: Tree Foliage Color and Texture: Deciduous Butterfly or bird attracter: Butterflies – larval host- Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Deer Resistant: None Plant Use: Shade and bird habitat, fruit-birds Texas ash is a small tree, 30-45 ft. tall, of limestone hills and canyons with an attractive, densely branched canopy. Pinnate leaves have brilliant fall color. Leaflets usually 5, rounded, not as elongate as in Red Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica). Wings usually not extending beyond the middle of the seed. Confined to Texas, except for a northern extension into the Arbuckle Mountains of Oklahoma. This southwestern relative of White Ash (Fraxinus americana) has fewer and smaller leaflets and smaller fruit and is adapted to a warmer, less humid climate; some consider it a variety of that species. Soil Description: Rocky soils; often of Limestone-based, Sandy, Sandy Loam, Medium Loam, Clay Loam, Clay, Caliche type Conditions Comments: Texas ash is a small tree with an attractive, densely branched canopy. Pinnate leaves have brilliant fall color. Long-lived and healthy. Very drought-tolerant. Low water requirements. Use Ornamental: Fall conspicuous, Blooms ornamental, Attractive, Long-living, Fruits ornamental Source of data: http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=FRTE Extension programs service people of all ages regardless of socioeconomic level, race, color, sex, religion, disability, or national origin. The Texas A&M University System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the County Commissioners Courts of Texas Cooperating A member of The Texas A&M University System and its statewide Agriculture Program. Common Name: Chitalpa Botanical name: Chilopsos x Catalpa Plant Type: Tree Light Requirement: Full sun Water Requirement: Hardiness/Zone: 7 - 9 Heat/Drought Tolerance: Height: Width/Spacing: Flower Color: One-inch light pink and white trumpets are centered with purple-streaked yellow landing strips for bees and hummingbirds Blooming Period: Summer, spring & fall Plant Form or Habit: deciduous, mid-sized tree Foliage Color and Texture: Bright apple-green lance- shaped leaves Butterfly or bird attracter: Hummingbirds Deer Resistant: Plant Use: Ornamental, Pests and diseases: The American native plants Catalpa bignoides and Chilopsis linearis were crossed to create this rugged, but garden-worthy hybrid, sometimes listed as x Chitalpa tashkentensis. There is a light fragrance to the funneled blooms that hummingbirds sup from all summer long. Its willowy limbs arch upwards to create an oval silhouette that bends safely to strong winds. It is reported that the 'Pink Dawn' cultivar produces more ruffled flowers than the 'White Cloud' variety. For all its graces, its best may well be that this sterile blooming tree produces no seeds – therefore no Chitalpa weeds in the garden beds. Chitalpa 'Pink Dawn is an attractive small to medium sized ornamental tree that seems to have inherited the best features of both parents, being both beautiful and ideally suited to most of the soils and climates of the American Southwest.