Tilia × europaea commonly known as Lime also known as
Linden. It is native to Europe and North America, is a naturally occurring
hybrid between Tilia cordata (small-leaved lime) and Tilia platyphyllos
(large-leaved lime). It is one of the
tallest broadleaved trees of Europe. It is a large and long living deciduous
tree grows 15–50 m (49–164 ft) in height with a trunk up to 2.5 m (8 ft) radius,
with oval crown, arching lower branches, and red twigs, is a well-known and
well-loved species, particularly in June and July when it is adorned with
strongly scented yellowish flowers worked vigorously and noisily b honey-bees.
For long it was a tree favored for avenues, but more recently it is less
appreciated because of its often fluted and wide-spreading base, bushy
unsightly stems (including witches brooms), and large bosses on its bole and
base, from which may arise a mass of unwanted shoots.
The twigs are strongly zigzagged and reddish, dull crimson
in color. The winter buds ae tinged with red, and have only two visible scales
one much larger than the other. The 2-3 in long leaves have toothed margins,
are heart-shaped, usually unequal at the base, and are dull green on the upper underneath
– which underside is conspicuous when the foliage billows in the wind. Red or
pink bud-scales are often associated with the leaves. The foliage is sometimes
infested in midsummer with numerous tiny aphids, which exude sticky ‘honey-dew’.
The leaves turn yellow or golden in the early autumn.
The yellowish-green bi-sexual flowers are borne in June and
July (early summer) in clusters of four to ten on a long main stalk which also
carries a narrowly oblong papery bract. Each flower has five green sepals and
five greenish-white to yellow petals. The hard round downy seeds ripen in
October.
At first the bark is smooth and greyish-green, striped with
darker markings, but eventually becomes rough and fissured. It is fibrous and
tough, and when young this ‘bast’ can be used for tying bundles of woodland
produce. The wood is white smooth, even-grained and soft, much used in the
past, and still occasionally, by the wood sculptor, and for hat blocks and
piano keys. If felled, Lime copies vigorously. It tolerates lopping and
trimming. The tree is rarely planted in woodlands.
Sambucus nigra common name is Elderalso called European Elderberry. It grows wild almost
everywhere in Europe. Usually it is no more
than a bush, but it can form a small tree.
It is a deciduous bush or little tree generally growing 4 -
6 m (13-20 ft) in height at some point it turn into 10 m in tallness. The bark,
light dim when youthful, changes to a coarse dim external bark with the long
way wrinkling. The leaves are orchestrated in inverse combines, 10–30 cm long,
pinnate with five to seven handouts, the pamphlets 5–12 cm long and 3–5 cm
wide, with a serrated margin.
Sambucus nigra – Elder
The twigs are stout but brittle, since they hold a thick
white pith. They are often angular and bear vertical corky pores on their bark.
The buds are oppositely set, with a clear leaf scar below them, and several
loose brownish-red or purple scales. The leaves are compound-pinnate, comprised
of five to seven oval leaflets with toothed margins, somewhat resembling Ash.
The fragrant, bi-sexual creamy-white June blossoms stand
above the foliage in flat-topped cymes of 5-6 inches diameter. These blossoms
are sometimes brewed to make a refreshing or medicinal tea. The flowers are
succeeded by small green globular berries, eventually juicy and purple-black,
much used for the making of elder-berry wine.
On young stems the bark is pale yellowish-brown, with
prominent vertically disposed lenticels, which are at first pale but become
darker. Later the bark rapidly becomes furrowed and corky, thick and
greyish-brown in color. The wood when and horny in texture.
Elder is often treated as a weed, but sometimes as a favored covert
plant. In sheltered places it may carry some green leaf throughout most of the
year, but a hard frost will blacken and cripple the foliage.
Salix chaenomeloidescommonly known as Giant Pussy Willow also
known as Japanese Pussy Willow. It is native to Japan, Korea and China. This is a
deciduous, ornamental willow that grown for its large dusky-pink or white
catkins. It is easy to see how these catkins raise the bar for flower
arrangements. It blooms in spring. It is a large shrub that grown 4-10 m (13-33
ft) in height; light brown new growth; attractive large oblong leaves which
start reddish and become yellow-green when larger; vigorous growth habit, with
long spreading branches, becoming as wide as it is tall. S. chaenomeloides,
biggest show is the bright red-mahogany covering that protects the pussies
before they emerge. These bud-scales'
combination of size and color is unique in willows, and make the shrub one of
the joys of Fall and Winter. Naturally it’s grows near the banks of the rivers.
These plants are some of the earliest pollen and nectar sources for our
pollinating insects and help them regain their strength after the long winter
months. Pussy Willows are easily managed shrubs for border areas in the garden
landscape. Once flowering is complete, plants can be pruned to the desired size
and shape without disrupting the next season's bloom.
Salix chaenomeloides - Giant Pussy Willow Leaves
Giant Pussy Willow Leaves in Fall
Salix chaenomeloides - Giant Pussy Willow Catkins
Giant Pussy Willow Flowers
Salix chaenomeloides - Giant Pussy Willow Flowers
Salix chaenomeloides - Giant Pussy Willow Full Bloom
