Random Winter Leaves

Black gum tree

In fall and early winter, wet, fallen sycamore leaves produce a fragrance similar to bay rum or bay leaves. Since it isn’t bottled and available at my local drugstore, I head for a river bottom in search of the leaves and their lovely smell. It is more noticeable when the leaf litter is damp or wet. It’s a subtle odor, though unmistakable when you discover it. Like a fresh humid-air-smell from the Gulf Coast, blown northward on a warm spring breeze in Missouri. Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) grows incredibly fast (2 to 3 feet per year) and are long-lived. They can uptake huge amounts of water from saturated soils in poorly drained areas of your property. They also have very showy bright white and tancamo bark when mature.

Kentucky coffee tree (Gymnocladus dioicus) is full of contradictions. It was once awarded “Best Tree for Solar Benefit” by the American Society of Landscape Architects because its leaves cast the greatest amount of shade in summer, and its stems cast the least amount of shade in winter. The result comes in home energy cost savings, because when a tree (or trees) are planted on the south and/ or west side of the house (within 15 feet), the building gets shaded and cooled from summer sun and bathed in warm winter rays. Its stems are oddly coarse in texture, having half the stems and branches of a maple tree, hence more sunlight passes through its canopy in winter. On the other hand, its leaves are massive and bipinnately compound, which means that its leaflets (which are many and tiny) are arranged on a series of twigs (called petioles) that branch two times into an intricate arrangement. The overall lacey, leaf structure can measure two-feet wide and long. Fall color is bright yellow and the leaflets are so tiny that they somewhat disappear in the landscape, though the massive 15inch petioles need to be raked up. Thornless honey-locust (Gleditsia triocanthos f. inermis) has similar tiny leaflets that disappear in planting beds.

I often hear that oaks are a poor choice near parking areas and houses because the acorns are too big and messy. But chinquapin oak acorns are tiny—smaller than a dime—and its leaves are the smallest of all the oaks in the northern Ozarks. Its fine textured leaves and small acorns are easy to sweep up on paving and they virtually disappear in planting beds while providing litter (if left in beds as mulch) for over-wintering butterflies and moths. Also, chinquapin oak (Quercus muhlenbergii) grows quickly and tolerates high pH (low acidity) soil that occurs near concrete and limestone gravel (sidewalks, driveways, and foundations).

Black gum (Nyssa sylvatica) has the best burgundy, yellow, and orange fall color. Its small leaves also sift into planting areas without the need for raking and therefore support wildlife. It produces many purple berries that cedar waxwings gorge on from October through early December. They start feeding at the top and methodically work their way down, calling cee-cee-cee as they pick the tree clean.

Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) gets confused with black gum. It also has fantastic redorange fall color, but has five-lobed leaves and is shunned by gardeners who dread the messy gum balls. I had to rake up gum balls before my own wedding reception to keep people from turning their ankles. There is a fruitless cultivar of sweetgum called ‘Rotundiloba’ that has rounded leaf lobes and burgundy fall color. It is slow-growing, upright, and fits into small garden spaces better than the straight species.

SCOTT WOODBURY Horticulturist

Horticulturist Scott Woodbury is the Curator of the Whitmore Wildflower Garden at Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit, MO, where he has worked with native plant propagation, design, and education for 28 years, and which is supported by the Missouri Dept. of Conservation. He also is an advisor to the Missouri Prairie Foundation’s Grow Native! program.