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A partridge in a pear tree might be what your true love gave to you on the first day of this Christmas, but unfortunately, I have to be the bearer of some bad news. Pear trees aren’t exactly in high regard, and if you did in fact get one this year (or any previous year, at Christmas time or otherwise) you might want to look for an opportunity to exchange it for a more desirable gift. Let me explain. Pear trees, specifically the ornamental cultivar Bradford pear, are looked down upon by many modern gardeners, landscapers, and conservationists for a number of reasons. We’ll get to all those in a minute, but first let’s start with the positive attributes of these trees. Bradford pears, and ornamental pear cultivars that are part of the Pyrus calleryana or Callery pear species, are prolific blooming, early flowering trees, with white blossoms that last for about two weeks. They also sometimes have a fleeting bit of fall color, typically reddish-purple. That’s it, the full list of positive attributes.
Above, left: In the spring, the branches of the Bradford Pear tree are covered with foul-smelling white flowers. Photo: J. Robbins, CC BC-NC-ND 4.0 Above, top right: While visually appealing, the flowers give off a smell that has been described as ranging from a minimal odor to smelling like rotting fish. Photo: G. Craig, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Above, bottom right: The Bradford Pear provides a fleeting bit of fall color. Photo: Camilla, CC BY-NC-N. The negative? To start, those white blooms in the spring tend to be quite foul smelling. The odor tends to vary from plant to plant, but the best-case scenario would be an odorless flower and the worst case would be a scent described as “rotting fish.” If your sense of smell is not too keen, the tree’s scent may not scare you. So then, let’s consider the structure of the tree. Bradford pear tends to have branches that have vary narrow angles of attachment to the main trunk, which may seem insignificant at first, but in actuality causes limbs to be extremely weak in the area of attachment to the trunk and incredibly susceptible to breakage from wind, ice, or any other element that exerts force upon the tree. Look around your neighborhood sometime after a storm and see how many trees have snapped or dropped broken limbs to the ground. I bet you’ll see more snapped Bradford pears than just about anything else.
Although Bradford pears are self-sterile, they will cross pollinate with other callery pears, and are incredibly prolific seeders, providing yet another reason to dislike them. Because we’ve planted so many of them and they reproduce so forcefully, they have become extremely invasive, volunteering in wooded areas, sites with wet soil, and just about anywhere else space will allow.
NC Cooperative Extension, the NC Forest Service, NC Department of Agriculture, the NC Wildlife Service, and the NC Urban Forestry Council have teamed up to create the NC Bradford Pear Bounty program. Through the bounty program, NC residents who attend sponsored events and show proof of removing a Bradford pear from their property are eligible to receive a more suitable native tree species in its place. You can visit https:www.treebountync.com for more details about how to participate in the bounty program and register for qualifying events. Whether you choose to exchange a Bradford pear or not, you should know they are a problematic tree that is no longer recommended for use in our landscapes. There are many alternatives that are similar in size and/or appearance, including but not limited to serviceberry, redbud, various species of dogwoods, ‘Okame’ cherry, and more. The NC State Plant Toolbox (https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu) is a great online tool to locate a more appropriate tree species. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705.
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You may have seen recently in the news or on social media that the White House Christmas tree came from a farm in North Carolina. In fact, this was the 16th NC tree to grace the White House since 1971. North Carolina is No. 2 in the United States in production of Christmas trees, behind only Oregon. While Oregon tree farms grow Douglas fir, Noble fir, Nordmann fir, and Grand fir primarily, about 96% of the Christmas trees grown in North Carolina are Fraser firs. Fraser fir (Abies fraseri) is a needle-leaf, evergreen conifer named after Scotch botanist John Fraser. It is native to high elevation areas of the Appalachian Mountain area of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Like all species of fir, it is a member of the Pinaceae family, which also includes other conifers such as the pines, spruces, hemlocks, and cedars. Because of its fondness for high elevation and the Appalachian climate, Fraser fir, as you might imagine, does not grow particularly well in Eastern NC. Our heat and humidity cause many issues, leading to poor growth and disease. Despite this, the Fraser fir remains an important tree statewide, as nearly all of us who choose to have a real tree at home during the Christmas season, or a wreath or garland for that matter, end up choosing a Fraser fir.
When grown in the right environment, Fraser firs will reach a mature height of 30-55 feet tall by 10-25 feet wide. In nurseries and on Christmas tree farms, they will be pruned fairly intensely during the early portion of their lives, in order to achieve an ideal shape and branch density. They grow best in full sun, and well-drained acidic soil. Fraser firs have a vibrant scent which many have come to associate with Christmas and thus items such as Christmas candles attempt to replicate that familiar aroma.
Above left: Fraser fir cones have visible bracts that curl downward. Bracts are modified leaf-like structures that cover the developing seeds within the cone. Photo: CC-BY-SA 2.0 Above right: The needles of the Fraser fir are fragrant and long-lasting, making them ideal for Christmas trees. Photo: D.B. Gleason, CC-BY-SA 2.0. Fraser fir trees are monoecious, meaning that female and male reproductive structures are found on the same plant. Each tree, therefore, is capable of producing cones. The cones are 1-3 inches long, and mainly purple-brown, with yellow-green scales and bracts that curl downward. When the cones mature, the scales, bracts, and seeds drop simultaneously, leaving just the woody core of the cone on the tree.
Though the vast majority of our North Carolina Christmas trees are Frasers, there are some Eastern Carolina Christmas-tree growers who raise other evergreen trees better suited to the environment in the Eastern half of the state. These include Leyland cypress, Eastern white pine, Virginia pine, Eastern red cedar, Arborvitae, and Arizona cypress. Each of those has a slightly different appearance and growing preferences, however they all share the general characteristics of being evergreen trees with a classic conical ‘Christmas-tree’ shape. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. I suspect there are quite a few more people on the planet who know that there are two separate plants known as Christmas cactus and Thanksgiving cactus then there are people who are able to correctly distinguish one from the other. Plant identification, after all, is harder than simply remembering plant names. However, I suspect even fewer people know that there is a third plant named the Easter cactus. All three of these plants are among a group of epiphytic succulents in the Cactaceae family native to Southern Brazil, which have become popular in many parts of the world as houseplants. Let’s start with the Christmas cactus, Schlumbergera russelliana, a plant that grows natively in trees and on rocks in the Brazilian rainforest. Like the other two plants, it has leafless green stems that are segmented and adorned at the tips by colorful flowers. Each segment of the stem has teardrop, scalloped margins, with a few notches along each edge. The notches on the margins are cuneate, or rounded. Flowers are typically pink, though white, red, and bi-color varieties exist. The flowers are tubular shaped, hanging downward from the arching branches, and have a ‘flower within a flower’ appearance. The plant doesn’t know which holiday it is supposed to bloom nearest, of course, but flowering typically occurs in late fall or winter as initiated by short day length. Flowering will often be more consistent if plants are taken outdoors during summer and fall so that the plants experience the trigger of shortening days heading into fall.
Above left: Christmas cactus has leafless green stems with round, scalloped margins. Photo: Lestat (J. Mehlich), CC BY-SA 2.5. Above Right: Blooms. Photo: N. Barbieri, CC BY-SA 2.5. Thanksgiving cactus, Schlumbergera truncata, shares many of those same attributes. However, the key identification feature is that the margins have somewhat sharp pointed teeth rather than the rounded ones found on Christmas cactus. Many botanists see the teeth at the very tip of each stem segment as resembling the claws of a crab, and therefore this plant is also sometimes referred to as claw cactus. If you too see crab claws, then you may find this a helpful way to identify this species. There are a wide range of bloom colors, including red, pink, orange, yellow, and white. Flowering is also triggered by short day length, and generally occurs a bit earlier in fall than the Christmas cactus, though it’s important to note that for both plants the timing of bloom will largely be dictated by the individual plant’s growing environment.
The margins of Thanksgiving cactus have somewhat sharp pointed teeth rather than the rounded ones found on Christmas cactus. Left photo: M. Wei, CC BY-ND 4.0. Right photo: D. Sipler, CC BY 2.0.
Photo, above right: The least common. Photo: A. Laine, CC BY-NC 4.0 If growing any of these plants, they will do best in moist potting soil, preferably a cactus/succulent potting mix, with bright, indirect light and high humidity. When taking them outdoors in the summer, a shady location is best to avoid leaf scald. Easter cactus tends to be the most finicky of the three and will drop stem segments easily if overwatered or underwatered. This perhaps explains why they are not as frequently available for sale.
Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. One of the big debates around Thanksgiving and Christmas is about cranberry sauce. Do you like the homemade kind that your grandma used to make? Or do you like the kind from the can with the lines on it? I suppose it’s possible that some of you don’t have strong opinions about this, or perhaps you don’t like cranberry sauce at all, but cranberry sauce is a must for me at Thanksgiving and I’m partial to the canned kind.
Cranberries in a can or homemade from a bag? That's the question. As you might imagine, being one of the foods most associated with Thanksgiving, cranberry plants (Vaccinium macrocarpon) are native to much of the Northeastern United States and Canada. Their distribution range extends to the south into North Carolina, but most of the commercial cranberry production in the United States is in more Northern states, such as New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Wisconsin. These low-growing vines are more of a ground cover than a climber. They like especially acidic soils that are moist but well-drained. They are tolerant of periodic periods of flooding, which impacts the way they are managed in commercial production. Plants require full sun for best fruit yield, but are intolerant of excessive heat, which is why we rarely find them growing outside areas farther north. In cranberry production culture, the vines are grown in fields with mounded berm borders, referred to as bogs. These fields are intentionally flooded with up to 18 inches of water during harvest time (August-November). The fruit is then knocked off of the vines by machine and floats to the surface of the water, at which time it can be gathered in nets for harvest. You’ve probably seen the various Ocean Spray commercials featuring farmers standing in flooded cranberry bogs during harvest season in their hip waders.
Above: Harvesting cranberries that have floated to the surface. Right: Cranberry plant. Photo: R. Routledge, CC BY 3.0 While cranberries might not be common around here, they are close relatives of another fruit-producing plant that is a much more common site in backyard gardens and farms throughout the state. That plant is the blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium and Vaccinium corymbosum). Blueberries are a medium to large shrub, rather than a vine, of course, but there are similarities in the flower and fruit appearance, if not the overall form of the plant. Blueberries also like very acidic soils, as well as moist, well-drained soil with high organic matter. Though blueberries aren’t likely to appreciate flooding, some similarities exist in the machinery used to harvest fruit in commercial settings.
Cranberries are popular with many pollinators, including at least seven known species of native bees. Cranberries are also a favorite of honey bees, and many large commercial beekeepers will migrate their hives to the states where cranberries are grown to assure adequate pollination. Several species of butterflies are also attracted to the flowers.
While Pitt County gardeners are not likely to have a bountiful harvest if they attempt to grow cranberries, they might be a fun experiment for some adventurous types. The flowers are pretty, as are the fruit if you are able to get any to reach maturity. If you can’t, don’t worry –there’s bound to be a can of cranberry sauce at the grocery store so that your holiday dinner isn’t cranberry-free. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. As the leaves start to change and fall in autumn, my mind and eye are often drawn to those deciduous trees and shrubs whose leaves are transforming from green to shades of orange, yellow, red, and purple. One of my favorite trees for fall foliage is the Ginkgo, Ginkgo biloba, which creates a dazzling display of golden yellow foliage in mid-fall.
from green to gold, not nearly as gradually as some other tree species change in fall. Likewise, the leaves all tend to drop off the tree and to the ground more or less at once, rather than periodically over several days and weeks. The effect is quite incredible, both when the leaves are on the tree and when laying below it, particularly if the tree is placed in a landscape where the fallen leaves can be left and appreciated for at least a few days. Ginkgo are a unique and interesting tree for a number of reasons, beyond just its fall foliage, which I'll return to in just a moment. For one, it is the only living member of its botanical family, Ginkgoaceae, meaning it has no close relatives. There is evidence that several other genera of Ginkgo existed during the Mesozoic era, however, and of Ginkgo biloba specifically existing in pre-historic times. Perhaps a paleobotanist such as Ellie Sattler of Jurassic Park made this discovery, but because Ginkgo biloba is the lone survivor, it is often referred to as a "living fossil". Further down the plant-nerd rabbit hole, we go to learn that Ginkgo is a gymnosperm,
Full height of a mature ginkgo is 50-80 feet tall, though they are slow to medium growing and will thus take quite a while to reach that size. Ginkgos are tolerant of a variety of soil textures and nutrient levels. They need full sun and good drainage to thrive. If you're planting a ginkgo, you'll want to be sure to choose a male tree, due to the aforementioned seeds, unless you want to harvest them. The seeds can be roasted or boiled, and are said to be both tasty and nutritious (I haven't tried them), and in fact an extract from the seeds is included in supplements often found in health food stores, and is touted to have benefits for memory and circulation issues.  These tall trees, which reach heights up to 80 feet, may be used to create shade in a park or pathway. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension?s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705.
About a year ago in this space, I wrote about a fascinating tree, the Bald Cypress, Taxodium distichum, that was unique in that it is a conifer that is deciduous rather than evergreen. Conifers, as a group, have narrow, needle-like foliage, and produce cones. Unlike the majority of cone-producing plants that retain their needles year-round, such as pines, firs, cedars, and spruce, the Bald Cypress is one of a select few that goes through a change in fall foliage color prior to dropping its leaves entirely. In fact, there’s really only one other tree species commonly grown in North Carolina that does this, and that is the tree we’ll cover today – the Dawn Redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides. In addition to the commonality of being deciduous conifers, these two trees also share the attribute of having tremendously fun Latin names to pronounce aloud – go ahead, try them both! Take it slow and you’ll do just fine. The Dawn Redwood is a towering tree, as you might guess from the inclusion of redwood in its common name. Though not a member of the genus Sequoia that comprises the famous California redwoods, the name Metasequoia alludes to the similarities between species, and indeed they are both members of the same botanical subfamily. Notably however, Metasequoia is more tolerant of colder temperatures than its California relative, and though it will get quite large at 75-100’, that is only about a third of the height of the tallest known California redwood. At that height, it’s certainly not easy to incorporate in the average landscape, and thus Metasequoias are most often found in parks and public gardens, such as the Pitt County Arboretum. Our specimen is not nearly 100’ tall, but at about 30 years of age it is one of the largest trees on the property.
 A row of Dawn Redwood trees. Photo: J. Robbins, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Metasequoia is native to Central and Western China, and was thought to be extinct until the 1940s, when it was re-discovered during a plant exploration mission. Trees are pyramidal in shape and when fully mature, the oldest branches in the bottom third of the tree will often weep or point downward. The trunk of this tree is quite attractive, as it has a reddish-brown bark that will exfoliate in strips over time, creating grooves of various shades of red, brown, and burgundy. Dawn Redwood produces attractive male and female cones. The greenish-brown male cones are borne in clusters and individually are typically 1/8’ wide or less. Female cones are barrel shaped and may be up to an inch long. The female cones are a pale green color when they form, similar to the color of the leaves, but turn brown when they are fully mature. The leaves, which are a light green through most of the year, turn a cinnamon brown color in the fall, lasting for a few weeks before dropping to the ground.
Though Bald Cypress is noted for its wide adaptability to soils that are both very wet and very dry, the Dawn Redwood is not quite as adaptable. It needs well-drained soil, and can tolerate occasional periods of wetness, but it will not grow in standing water the way bald cypress sometimes do. Though Dawn Redwood may be a bit too large to add to your home landscape, it is a beautiful and fascinating tree that any true plant lover should seek out and appreciate. Stop by and visit ours any time! Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. Plumeria, known by the common name Frangipani, is a genus of eleven different species of shrubs and small trees native to Central and South America. These tropical plants produce fragrant spiral blooms in a variety of colors throughout much of the summer. These blooms are typically used in Hawaii to make leis, the floral necklaces associated with the island. Leaf shape varies a bit by species, but generally they are roughly oval, longer than they are wide, and congregated mainly on the newest growth toward the tips of each branch. Flowers are borne in terminal clusters at the end of stems, therefore poking out just above the foliage. Flower color ranges from white to pink to red to orange to yellow, and various combinations of these colors.  Left: Terminal buds open over time, from a furled bud to a tubular flower with five petals (far right). Photos: Wisconsin Horticulture Extension Division. Plumerias are not cold hardy, so they will not survive in areas where temperatures dip below freezing. While they may reach heights up to 20-25’ tall in temperate environments, their size in Eastern NC will be much less. Those who grow Plumeria around here most likely do so in pots, which they bring in during winter. Here at the Pitt County Arboretum, we have one planted in the ground at the corner of our Perennial Garden, near an employee entrance to the Agricultural Center. This plant is about 7-8’ tall, and each year at the beginning of November it is dug out of the ground, stripped of its leaves, and stored as a bare-root plant in the unheated garage of one of our volunteers. Plumeria can be stored this way throughout most of winter with little to no attention. Once spring arrives and danger of frost is gone, we return it to the same spot in the garden where it grows throughout summer. Assuming your Plumeria is growing in a pot, you can bring it indoors and store in a similar way. If you choose not to put in a garage or similar dark, cool location and instead keep it in a warm, lighted area indoors, it will need occasional water and may retain a small number of leaves.
Plumeria blooms come in a variety of colors.
Above: Plumeria stick. Above right: Plumeria tree. Below right: Plumeria species or cultivars have different shaped and colored leaves. Plumeria are quite easy to propagate by cuttings. If you’ve been to any of our Master Gardener plant sales, you’ve probably noticed a container filled with 12-18” long gray-green sticks and wondered what on earth they are. These Plumeria cuttings can be stuck in soil long after they were originally taken. Spring is an ideal time to root these cuttings. Plumeria stems will leak a milky sap immediately after being injured, thus when cuttings are taken, sap will leak from the cut end of the cutting. Let these dry, give the cutting 10-14 days to callous over, and then the stem will be ready to be stuck in soil. It will root once temperatures are warm enough for the plant to resume active growth.
I must acknowledge Gary Fenton, the retired former director of Greenville Parks and Recreation, for his donation of numerous Plumeria plants and cuttings to the Arboretum over the years, including a large recent donation of plant material. We use these donations for both propagation and beautification. Gary has also been a valuable source of knowledge about caring for these plants and has shared his wisdom not only with us, but with many, many others. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. While pumpkins are the plant we most associate with Halloween, there are other ghastly, creepy, or supernatural plants, some in appearance and others in name only.  The Bat Flower is among the spookiest, creepiest, weirdest of all plant specimens. Photo: B. Shrader, CC BY-ND 2.0 The Ghost Dogwood, Cornus wilsoniana, is a small tree, similar in size and shape to the more familiar native dogwood, but actually comes to us from Central and Southern Asia. It has white small white flowers that are borne in clusters at the terminal ends of branches, which are attractive but not as much so as those of the native dogwood. Ghost Dogwood gets its name from the color of its bark, which peels as it ages, creating blotches of gray and green on young trunks before maturing to a pure, ghostly white on older trees. Then we have Spiderwort, Tradescantia virginiana. Spiderwort is an early spring flowering perennial native to the Southeastern United States. It likes to grow in moist soils and can tolerate sun or shade. Its flowers are comprised of three bluish-purple petals, with ‘web-like’ filaments springing from their center. Spiderwort can spread aggressively, and is sometimes mistakenly referred to as invasive, which by definition it cannot be since it is a native to our area. Plants are self-sterile, but will cross-pollinate with other nearby colonies of spiderwort with different genetics. Spiderwort is often divided and shared with others, giving it ample opportunity to pop up in areas where it is unexpected, and perhaps unwanted, not unlike spiders and their webs.
Next are the Witchhazels, Hamamelis virginiana and Hamemelis x intermedia, Hybrid Witchhazel. These plants are medium to large shrubs, with uniquely shaped flowers that tend to open in January through early March, when the twigs of the shrub are bare. The shape and arrangement of the petals on Witchhazel blossoms is sometimes referred to as ‘spider-like,’ as the individual petals are long and slender and come together at a central point, resembling long spider legs joining its body. Why is the plant called Witchhazel rather than Spiderhazel? Perhaps because many parts of the plant – twigs, leaves, bark, and buds – have long been used to make various medicinal concoctions, a trait that may have reminded the botanist who named this plant ‘witch’s brew.’ Another possible explanation, however, ties back to the old English word wyche, pronounced similarly to witch, meaning flexible, which certainly describes the young stems of Witchhazel. Still another possible reason is the practice of Native Americans, and the early English settlers who learned from them, to use branches from this plant as a divining rod to find sources of underground water, which was referred to as ‘water-witching.’
We saved the creepiest for last, Cuphea llavea, known commonly as Bat flower or Bat-faced cuphea. There is no mystery whatsoever why Bat flower is named Bat flower. This 18-24” tall perennial native to Mexico that is not quite cold-hardy in North Carolina, and thus acts as an annual here, has flowers that resemble a bat. The flowers have a hairy purple calyx which s like the body of a bat, often even appearing to form the shape of an open mouth at their center, with two red petals that point upward on either side, in the appearance of wings. An observer more familiar with the comic book character Batman may simply see the silhouette of Batman’s head when looking at the flower. Pollinators aren’t scared by it, but you may be!
Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. Native plants play an important role in the state’s history, heritage, and identity. NC Governor Roy Cooper designated October 20-26 as North Carolina Native Plants Week in recognition of the vital role native plants play in our landscape by providing essential food resources for migrating birds, pollinators, and other wildlife. While many non-natives are well adapted to our landscapes and perfectly suitable for use, natives often have specific relationships with pollinators that non-natives may not always replicate. One particular native tree that I’ve always been fond of is the Sassafras, Sassafras albidum. While it is more of a forest tree than a conventional landscape tree, many of us can find sassafras poking out of the edge of a wooded area behind our home or along a roadside nearby. Occasionally used in landscapes in native- or pollinator-themed plantings, Sassafras is more typically found in undisturbed natural areas.  Sassafras is known for its brilliant fall color. Photo: P.W. Hatcher, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Sassafras is an important food source for a wide range of insects and animals in NC. It supports larval stage Imperial moths and Spicebush swallowtails, which feed primarily on the foliage. Its fruits are eaten by eastern bluebirds, red-eyed vireos, quail, wild turkeys, kingbirds, crested flycatchers, mockingbirds, sapsuckers, pileated woodpeckers, yellowthroat warblers and phoebes, black bears, beaver, rabbits, and squirrels. Ornamentally, sassafras is interesting in a number of ways. It is a deciduous tree with early spring blossoms. Flowers are small and yellow, and borne in clusters at the tips of branches before the leaves emerge. They remind me in many ways of red maple and other Acer species, in terms of flower shape and bloom time, though not in color. When the foliage does appear shortly after blooms conclude, Sassafras are remarkable in that each individual leaf can take any of three distinct shapes – a simple oval shape, a three-pronged trident shape, or a mitten-like oval with a single lobe offset to one side. Though this characteristic is perhaps more of a botanical curiosity that appeals to plant nerds like me than a visually stunning feature, it is notable because most plants simply don’t have this distinction. Red and black fruit appear in fall, which are attractive and a favorite food of many animals.
But more so than any other ornamental feature, Sassafras is notable for its brilliant fall color. Leaves that are green throughout spring and summer change to various shades of yellow, orange, and red in the fall. Though the foliage color varies a bit from plant to plant and season to season, a sassafras with predominately orange fall foliage is truly something to behold.
All parts of the sassafras tree are aromatic. One can easily appreciate the scent by lightly scratching away some bark or crushing a leaf or two. Sassafras tea and other drinks are made from the roots. Root beer, in fact, used to be flavored primarily by sassafras roots. The leaves can also be dried and ground into powder, which can be used as a thickening agent when cooking gumbo. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. Every month at the Pitt County Arboretum, we hold what we call a Northside Plant Walk, where we walk through the Arboretum (often including a loop on what is known as the Northside Walking Trail) and discuss plants that share a common characteristic. I often have many of the plants in mind well ahead of each month’s tour, but I also like to walk the grounds myself a day or two before the tour to see what else might catch my eye that is not already on my radar. I tell you this because when I was putting together this past month’s tour, the bloom of our Toad Lily in the Perennial Garden called to me so loudly that I simply had to include it. Toad Lily (Tricyrtis hirta), also called Japanese Toad Lily or Hairy Toad Lily, is an herbaceous flowering perennial plant that is excellent for shady sites and average to wet soils. It is native to Island regions of Japan, where it is found growing along shady rocky cliffs and stream banks. It was introduced into the United States in the late 1800s, but was found mainly only in botanic gardens and specialty nurseries for many years, and really only became widely available for the average gardener in the 1990’s. The name Tricyrtis, translates roughly to “three bulges,” a reference to the three swollen nectar sacs found within each blossom. The nectar is a favorite of hummingbirds, and flowers are often visited by various butterfly and bee species as well.
Above left: Toad Lily flower. Photo: André Karwath, CC-BY SA 2.5 Above right: Toad Lily flowers and leaves. Credit: Alpsdake CC BY-SA 4.0 It can be difficult to find plants that perform well in heavy shade, and especially difficult to find plants that bloom heavily in shade. As such gardeners with shady gardens tend to rely on plants like hosta, ferns, and astilbe, and lament the relative lack of other options. While these are all fine plants, it is always nice to have options. Enter Toad Lily, which not only tolerates shade, but requires it, and will bloom prolifically from late summer through fall. The typical Toad Lily has blossoms that are speckled purple and white, with petals arranged in the shape of a six-pointed star. Individual flowers are small. Plants have a spread of 18-23 inches. The blooms are colorful, but the intricacy and complexity of the shape and color pattern is best appreciated when the viewer can see the flowers from up close, thus it’s ideal, if possible, to plant them along the edge of a flower bed, or near a path, wall, or other feature that allows close inspection. Toad Lily pairs well in the garden with plants like hosta, astilbe, ferns, and hellebores (Lenten Roses), not only due to their previously mentioned love of shade, but also due to a similar affinity for high organic matter and soil acidity. Toad Lily will probably tolerate wetter soils than any of the aforementioned plants, but as long as soils are at least slightly moist it will be happy. It will not perform well in dry areas. Partial shade is okay, but more than half a day of sun will likely cause some leaf burn or other stress. 
There are quite a few interesting cultivars of Toad Lily, each of which has slightly different flower colors or foliar characteristics. To quickly summarize just a few of these: ‘Alba’ and ‘White Tower’ have white flowers, ‘Albomarginata’ has green/white variegated foliage with purple flowers, ‘Lightning Strike’ and ‘Miyazaki Gold’ have green/gold variegated foliage with purple flowers, ‘Golden Gleam’ has yellow leaves with purple/white flowers, and there are quite a few others with varying combinations.
Last Northside Plant Walk of 2024 If you’d like to attend one of our Northside Plant Walks, the next one will be at 12 noon on November 8th at the Pitt County Arboretum and will focus on Berries, Twigs, and other Underappreciated Ornamental Attributes. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. |
Matt Stevens
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