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| .,SPIKE OF TINY YELLOW FLOWERS... |
Wednesday, 9:00 AM. 53 degrees F at the ferry dock, 55 on the back proch, the descrepancy the result of the ENE wind, calm with light gusts, bringing cold air off the lake. The sky is partly cloudy, the humidity 88%. The barometer is falling, predicting mixed skies with rain and thunderstorms for the balance of the week. We had a short but fierce rainstorm yesterday afternoon. Peonies and lilies are just beginning to bloom in the garden, along with the tall iris.
One of my favorite, and underused, native shrubs is mountain maple,
Acer spicatum, in the Maple Family. It is blossoming right on time.
It is a tree of northeastern North America, from far northern Canada
to the Lake States and New England, and south at elevation in the
Appalachian Mountains. It is an understory shrub or small tree to
twenty feet or so, growing in the rich soils of moist woods along stream
beds and rocky outcroppings.
It has the opposite leaves and branches typical of maples, and a
three-lobed, toothed leaf. It bears interesting yellow flower spikes in
spring, followed by colorful, red-winged seeds. The fall leaf color is
a brilliant red to orange, which lights up the fall woods like a
jack-o-lantern.
It is little used in landscaping and is not often available from
nurseries, which is truly a shame, as it is a very interesting and
attractive plant to use in the the native or naturalized landscape.
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