Answer to Feb 23- It's A Larch

Western Larch or Tamarack Tree, Larix occidentalis is a deciduous conifer tree. The needle like leaves turn golden yellow in Fall and mostly drop off. It has a delicate lacy look in the spring- but it looks (to me CW, anyway) like it's a pine tree gone bad in Winter!

It's ok to look like this.

Well, at least some of the time.
This large (up to 250 feet) native tree catches my eye just west of the parkway by the Colorado Street off ramp near Downtown. You might see it this time of year and think we've lost another big conifer to environmental stresses or poor development practices, but, in this case, you're looking at a perfectly healthy specimen.

Great Groundcovers

Hurray for Hardy Yellow Ice Plant.
Delosperma nubigenum forms a low maintenance, evergreen mat. The succulent foliage is reddish in winter, spring green the rest of the year with bright yellow daisy-like blooms in early summer. I think it's easier to keep weed free than some of the creeping thymes.


This is one example of the many creeping veronica available. Veronica surculosa 'Waterperry Blue' has shiny evergreen foliage that turns reddish bronze in winter. Durable and drought tolerant, it sports large sky blue flowers in mid spring.
Colorado State has a very comprehensive chart of good drought tolerant groundcover choices. including Veronica pectinata or Woolly Speedwell that blends nicely with our native look plant choices.

Ways to be Waterwise

Green gardening no longer refers to just a green thumb. Heartsprings Design is at the forefront of green, waterwise and sustainable landscape design. Take a minute to read this article about one of our great new projects.

More Ever Mahogany

Here are two more evergreen choices for Central Oregon that have red or mahogany Winter foliage. These are ground covers. Do you recognize any of them? (The not so great pictures make this an expert challenge.)

Oregon Grape Holly

People seem to love Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium, Mahonia repens) or hate it. I happen to think it is a wonderful plant used in the right situations. The deer don't mess with it much, it has four season interest, loves the sun or the shade and grows easily in our area. The larger variety needs enough room to show off it's natural shape, and it's prickly and needs to be put a safe distance away from tender skins.



Sulphur Buckwheat is the other 'ever not so green' shown. I can't say enough about this one, one of my favorites right now. It has such a pleasing shape-and it's not finicky. Some of our natives don't like living in captivity. They either are hard to transplant, or love life and take over a small landscape. This buckwheat is easy going and looks great all year. Drought resistant. Likes full sun.

Not so ever GREEN

Evergreen plants are prime choices for our winter plant watching game, and soon I'll post what I think of as typical evergreens- conifers and some of our native broad leaf evergreens that hold their green foliage all year long. What caught my interest this week as I looked about the town and my yard, is how many evergreens really aren't. Green, I mean. There are ever mahogany, and ever silvery-gray, and winter pinky-red, ever yellow-green, and- well many of the evergreens are not only not green but they also are not the same color all year long.



This specimen is one of our Oregon natives that has green foliage most of the year, yellow flowers in Spring, purple berries in Fall and mahogany leaves in the Winter. It can grow into a large shrub or act as a very hardy ground cover. You can spot it along Reed Market Road in both forms.



Here's another native plant that I love. It's hard to see this one just around town, but it is becoming more available at the nurseries.(oh- like at Heartsprings Nursery!) It has pretty pinkish mahogany leaves in winter, yellow flowers in spring that become orange tinted bracts as the blooms age. It's a neat and tidy sub shrub that is drought tolerant and not a favorite food for our normal critters.

Word Play

This is a little off base for our mystery plant game- but while researching the Red twig Dogwood, I came upon a few words that stumped me (CW). Drupe and indehiscent.

In context -
The indehiscent drupe of the Cornus family is 2 - seeded.


Indehiscent means that the fruit does not open spontaneously.
Drupe is a fleshy fruit that usually has only one seed like a cherry or apricot.

I'm sure you'll all use these common words in your next conversation? So there you are. tee hee

Redtwig Dogwood

The Redtwig or Redosier Dogwood, Cornus sericea (syn. C. stolonifera) thrives in stream side environments, but it is also very adaptable to other soil types and can tolerate some drought conditions once established. Prune out the older stems to encourage the brightest red twig coloration. C. sericea Kelseyi is a smaller variety that only grows 2 or 2 1/2 feet tall.(available at the Heartsprings Nursery, this spring) The dogwood name, according to Wikipedia, might come from 'dagwood' or dagger-wood. I guess the wood of some varieties of Dogwood trees is strong enough to use for weapons. Our shrub branches are more often thought of as appropriate for basket weavers! I also found mention that the name might refer to a nasty dog smell from the cut branches- but I just did an experimental pruning and I couldn't detect a scent. Anyone heard of this before?

Red by the River

As you're traveling on Highway 97 just south of Tumalo, you'll cross the Deschutes River and view a wonderful example of native stream side plants. As the weather warms a bit and we have those first springlike days, this plant along with the native willows that often grow in similar wet habitat practically glow with red and orange colors. If the deer don't munch this shrub to bits, it'll grow 6-9 feet tall, and the red stems are a welcome sight in winter landscapes. Guess the name?