West Tennessee Chapter: Tennessee Urban Forestry Council

Congratulations to our newest Urban Forestry Advisor, Mary Leslie Ramsey.

Without foliage to distract the eye, tree bark is on full display in winter. In this photo assemblage by Director of Horticulture Uli Lorimer, the colors and textures of bark on these six trees could not differ more dramatically.

Photo assemblage: Top row, L to R: Mountain chestnut oak (Quercus montana), red maple (Acer rubrum), striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum). Bottom row, L to R: Paper birch (Betula papyrifera), common persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), shagbark hickory (Carya ovata). All photos © Uli Lorimer

Arboreta are beneficial for many reasons, such as inspiration, learning, and enjoyment. They also play a crucial role in preserving and protecting tree species that are rare, threatened, or endangered. Tennessee is fortunate to have many arboreta throughout the state, with 90 of them certified by the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council. Be sure to visit one near you and learn about the different trees in your area. To find out how you can start an arboretum in your community, visit https://tufc.com/programs/tree/arboreta/ or email [email protected]. Enjoy trees!

"Let us learn to appreciate there will be times when the trees will be bare, and look forward to the time when we may pick the fruit." - Anton Chekhov

Everyone wants a room with a view... but did you know that an office with a view of trees and nature is actually a key to employee wellness?

A 2011 study found that employees whose offices overlooked trees and landscapes took 16% fewer hours of sick leave per year.

Another study in 2010 found that people who worked in buildings with high levels of natural daylight had "lower markers of stress and improved indicators of heart health. . . ." They also "exhibited a better sleep cycle and lower stress outside of the workplace."

In addition, researchers at the University of Florida and University of North Florida conducted a study that found that, "The results indicate that as workday nature increased, perceived stress and generalized health complaints decreased."

Research performed on behalf of the UK Green Building Council indicated "a 23% decrease in sick leave taken by employees with a view of nature and a 15% increase in worker productivity when office spaces are enhanced with plants."

They also found that the reduction in sick leave hours equated to a savings to the employer of over $2,000 per employee per year.

But what do you do if you are in an office with limited natural light or windows or with no view of nature?

Well, researchers say simply taking 10 to 30 minutes to be in nature significantly reduces stress and causes a reduction in the stress hormone cortisol.

It also helps reduce the risk of serious health issues.

Another study found that 20 minutes in a park setting caused a significant improvement in children's ability to focus.

So, even if you are stuck in a work environment that lacks views of nature, just taking a 20 minute break to be outdoors in nature allows you to reap significant physical and mental health benefits.

Links to all research cited are in the comments.

Check out the 2024 National Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Cost Share Grant Program’s Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)


https://ucfgrants2024.urbanandcommunityforests.org/

Join us in Little Rock for our annual conference, trade show, and Tree Climbing Championship. Program and registration will be available in mid-December. Learn more at www.isasouthern.org/conference.

“We have a tendency to think in terms of doing and not in terms of being. We think that when we are not doing anything, we are wasting our time. But that is not true. Our time is first of all for us to be. To be what? To be alive, to be peaceful, to be joyful, to be loving. And that is what the world needs most.”
Thich Nhat Hanh

David Grossman - Stained Glass Sky.

Everyone’s Garden is packed with dry leaves at the moment but instead of chucking them in the bin, there are ways to use them in the Garden to improve it with low effort!
The reason why you need those leaves is because They contain up to 80% of the nutrients picked up by a tree. However, as they die, most of these nutrients are reabsorbed by the tree.
What remains in the leaf is an important substance called lignin. It acts as a buffer to improve the mineral flows within the soil, and can hold the soil nutrients!

Here are six native oaks you can find in the eastern United States. If you’ve read Doug Tallamy’s “The Nature of Oaks,” you know that native oaks are the most important host trees for butterfly and moth caterpillars in North America. In addition, if you like to watch or listen to songbirds, native oaks provide the caterpillar food source for baby birds better than any other tree group.

As with other trees, additional features like the habitat, buds, acorns, and bark are often necessary for confident identification. Many oaks hybridize between species as well, sometimes making identification to species challenging from just the leaves.

Swamp White Oak (Quercus bicolor) can be found in bottomland forests and wetland margins across the Midwest and Northeast. There are some scattered populations in the Piedmont, though, and it’s also used in landscaping. The ‘bicolor’ in its scientific/botanical name refers to the difference between the dark green and glossy top surface of its leaves and the much lighter, silvery-white undersides.

Post Oak (Quercus stellata) grows in upland forests with clay soils in the Southeast. The leaves have a diagnostic Maltese cross shape and many star-shaped hairs (trichomes) on their lower surface.

Overcup Oak (Quercus lyrata) grows in bottomland forests of the Coastal Plain and in the Gulf Coast states. You’ll occasionally find one growing in the Piedmont, but they’re planted in landscaping too. Overcup Oak leaves are widest above the midline and typically have 7 lobes. The best feature to identify them may be their acorn, which has a cup that nearly encloses the entire nut.

Chinquapin Oak (Quercus muehlenbergii) can be found in the Midwest but it is sometimes planted in landscaping. In the wild, it’s often found around limestone outcrops. It has some resemblance to Chestnut Oak, but the leaves of Chinquapin Oak have sharper teeth along the margins. Chinquapin Oak leaves are also much smaller, typically being less than 5 inches long.

Chestnut Oak (Quercus montana) grows in upland forests of the Appalachian Mountains and adjacent Piedmont. The leaves can be up to 10 inches long and they have many rounded teeth along their margins. The key difference from Swamp Chestnut Oak leaves is that Chestnut Oak leaves are proportionately narrower.

Swamp Chestnut Oak (Quercus michauxii) grows in bottomland forests of the Coastal Plain and Gulf Coast states, but scattered populations occur in the Piedmont too. Its leaves are much wider above the midline and it has lots of rounded teeth along the leaf margin. The leaves closely resemble Chestnut Oak (Q. montana). The key difference between them, though, is that Swamp Chestnut Oak has proportionally wider leaves. It also differs in habitat and distribution range from the Chestnut Oak. Its scientific name honors the French naturalist André Michaux, who was the Royal botanist of King Louis XVI and an early explorer of the southeastern United States.

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The Memphis Botanic Garden had a wonderful retirement luncheon for Laurie Williams. We will miss her work with state arboreta.

Thank you to Charles London for the pictures. This past weekend we had volunteers at the Blue Trees exhibit in Germantown and for the Overton Park Conservancy greenhouse cleanup.
Thank you all.

Here’s another reason to “leave the leaves” and not mulch or burn them this fall. In their last act as a caterpillar, Eastern Tiger Swallowtails (Papilio glaucus) crawl down to the base of their host tree and pupate in the leaf litter. At this stage, the brown caterpillar and pupa blend in well with the detritus and a light covering of fallen autumn leaves insulate the pupa from cold winter temperatures.

If you want to see more of these beautiful butterflies in your yard next spring, here’s something to consider with your leaves. If you’re going to pick them up, gently blow or rake your leaves into a planting bed or wild space on your property. Spreading them out in a layer of loose leaves that’s less than 12 inches deep is best (think of the typical leaf depth in a hardwood forest), but this may not be manageable for all homeowners. The leaf litter will allow any Eastern Tiger Swallowtail pupae attached to the underside of the leaves to have a chance at successfully overwintering and then emerging from the leaf litter next spring.

Given their beauty and abundance, it’s easy to see why Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are the state butterfly of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.

The leaves of Post Oak (Quercus stellata) turn deep red each autumn. As a member of the white oak group, they have rounded lobes. The leaves often have 5 lobes that form a Maltese Cross shape, which aids in identification. The leaves have a leathery texture and a glossy top sheen as well. On the underside of the leaves are lots of forked, somewhat star-shaped trichomes (hairs). This is the origin of the specific epithet of its scientific/botanical name (stellata = star-shaped in Latin). If you look up high in the tree, its upper branches are often crooked and gnarled.

Post Oaks are native to the southeast in dry to rocky or heavy clay soils in upland forests, piedmont prairies, and oak savannahs. It’s common in the piedmont and grows across much of the eastern United States. I found this one along the edge of an old field in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The common name ‘Post’ Oak comes from the use of its rot-resistant wood for fence posts.

Love that komorebi

​​How Community-Based Public Space Can Build Civic Trust: Lessons from Akron - Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly How can communities build civic trust? A multiyear effort in Akron, OH, has some lessons to share in how public space can be leveraged to support racial equity.

Large crowd at the Memphis Botanic Garden to hear Doug Tallamy speak on The Nature of Oaks.

Champion tree table ready for Doug Tallamy tonight.

Tennessee Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry is proud to be . Through funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. Forest Service is making historic investments in boosting the nation’s tree cover in urban, suburban and rural communities nationwide.

Beautiful September Elm collected today at Elmwood Cemetery.

“Come to the woods, for here is rest. There is no repose like that of the green deep woods. Sleep in forgetfulness of all ill.” - John Muir

This should be wonderful and they count for volunteer hours.

TODAY at 4:00! We're debuting our new series of Wednesday Winter Walks. Every Wednesday at 4:00 PM, we'll take a casual stroll around the Old Forest, with no specific agenda other than enjoying the beauty of the forest in good company. Meet us at 4:00 this afternoon at the kiosk in the Rainbow Lake parking lot; no sign-up required. Dogs on leash welcome!

h/t Poetry lovers

Memphis Botanic Garden tree team hanging signs in the garden.

: Join us next week on November 7 from 5-8 pm for our Urban Home Garden Speaker Series featuring Doug Tallamy on The Nature of Oaks!

Schedule:
5-6 pm: Optional guided tour of our newly revitalized Arboretum with MBG Arborist, Bo Kelly
6-8 pm: Cash bar available
6:30 pm: Doug Tallamy talk followed by a book signing

Click https://www.simpletix.com/e/urban-home-garden-speaker-series-tickets-133122 to purchase tickets. $10 MBG & Memphis Horticultural Society Members/$15 Non-Members. A special thank you to the Memphis Horticultural Society.

Emerson was onto something

h/t Bartlett Tree Experts - Richmond, VA

Meet our Tennessee Tree of the Week - the Pawpaw ("Asimina triloba").

This small tree produces the largest edible fruit native to the US.

Native Americans cultivated them for food as far back as at least the 1500's.

They also used the fibrous inner bark to make cords, fishing nets, baskets, and mats.

The fruits are still popular among humans, and are also eaten by animals from bears to squirrels.

Pawpaws grow natively in hardwood forests in 26 states, including Tennessee.

They are too small to be harvested for timber, but do provide other benefits:

🌳 The fruit: this sweet fruit is calorie-, nutrient-, and vitamin-dense.

It has a tropical flavor and can be eaten raw or cooked.

🌳 Cancer treatment: the seeds contain a chemical that may be toxic to specific types of cancer cells.

There is currently no published clinical research on this, but researchers are working to explore its potential cancer treatment uses.

🌳 Insect repellent: the leaves and bark contain a natural insect repellent, so insects tend to leave the tree alone.

The chemical gives an unpleasant taste to the leaves and bark, so animals usually avoid eating the foliage and shoots.

Pawpaws are largely resistant to pests and infections, but are susceptible to bacterial infections called leaf spots, which can destroy fruit crops.

They are also susceptible to "Talponia plummeriana," a moth that destroys pawpaw flowers, preventing fruits from developing.

Pawpaws have oblong leaves, 5-11 inches long and 2-3 inches wide. They bloom in the spring, producing small purple-brown, bell-shaped flowers, 1-1.5 inches across. They produce fruit in the fall; the fruits are up to 4 inches long, changing from green to yellow, then brown as they ripen.

The bark is smooth and brown, with light gray patches and raised pores called lenticels. The tree grows up to 40 feet in height and is shaped like a pyramid.

Blessed to have Connie Shepherd at Memphis Parks. She looks out for all our trees and flower beds.

Congratulations to Carolyn Fisher and Cynthia Wills, our newest Urban Forestry Advisors.

There is increasing evidence people are born with a natural affinity for nature. This genetic tendency is further shaped by our surroundings and our culture. Knowing this, it encourages us to consider the different factors and circumstances that affects people’s appreciation for trees, so that we can better plan programs and activities to increase urban green space for the well-being of all residents.