Winter Wonders: Trees and Plants with Winter Interest

Adam Passo, district manager of Davey's Milwaukee office, talks about all kinds of trees and plants with winter interest, explaining how their berries, bark and foliage stand out during colder months. 

In this episode we cover: 

• Evergreens (0:44) (8:42)
• Trees with four-season interest (1:27)
  • Three-flowered maple (2:09)
  • Paperbark maple (3:39)
• Do trees with winter interest shine in other seasons? (5:14)
• London plane vs. Sycamore (5:55)
• Concolor fir (7:41)
• Sunkissed arborvitae (7:47) (10:01)
• Blue juniper (8:01) 
• How do arborists recommend unknown trees? (9:09)
• Japanese white pine (10:20)
• Winter interest trees' berries (11:05)
• What was Wisconsin's summer season like? (12:42)
• Shagbark hickory (13:11)
• Stewartia (14:35)
• Red twig dogwoods (15:13)
• Peach hydrangeas (15:57)
• Adam's experience and travels as an arborist (16:44)

To find your local Davey office, check out our find a local office page to search by zip code.

To learn more about trees and plants with winter interest, read our blog, Best Trees to Plant for Winter Color. 

To read our blogs about tree care in the winter, read our blogs, Can You Plant Trees, Shrubs or Evergreens in the Winter? and Winter Watering Tips for Evergreens. 

Connect with Davey Tree on social media:
Twitter: @DaveyTree
Facebook: @DaveyTree
Instagram: @daveytree
YouTube: The Davey Tree Expert Company
LinkedIn: The Davey Tree Expert Company 

Connect with Doug Oster at www.dougoster.com. 

Have topics you'd like us to cover on the podcast? Email us at podcasts@davey.com. We want to hear from you!

Transcript

[music]

Doug Oster: Welcome to the Davey Tree Expert Company's podcast, Talking Trees. I'm your host, Doug Oster. Each week, our expert arborists share advice on seasonal tree care, how to make your trees thrive, arborists' favorite trees, and much, much more. Tune in every Thursday to learn more because here at the Talking Trees podcast, we know trees are the answer.

I'm joined again this week by Adam Passo. He's a district manager in the Milwaukee office of the Davey Tree Expert Company. Today, we're talking about one of my favorite subjects, which are trees with cool winter interest. How are you, Adam? Thanks for coming on the show again.

Adam Passo: Absolutely. I'm fantastic. Thanks for asking.

Doug: I've got some ideas, too, the trees that I like in the winter, but I want to hear when you're thinking about a tree with winter interest, what first comes to mind for you?

Adam: I think, obviously, evergreens still seem like they're alive compared to deciduous trees, which get a little bit naked. The snow hanging on a Norway spruce is just beautiful. White pines drooping down with all the snow, very cool. There's lots of other trees that have really interesting bark that can really be showstoppers.

Doug: When you're working with clients, is that a consideration for another season of interest when you're proposing some trees for, of course, right tree, right place?

Adam: Yes, absolutely. Some people just absolutely love the flowers in the springtime. Some people love the fall color. Then, if we can marry them all together and get some interesting bark for the winter, then that's the perfect tree if it works in the spot.

Doug: That's what I want. That's all I want. I want a tree that looks good in the spring, summer, fall, and winter. Is that too much to ask?

Adam: That's not too much to ask.

[laughter]

Doug: What's on your list?

Adam: Something that really follows all of that is the three-flowered maple. It's got just unbelievable orange fall color. It gets these really cool-looking buds that look like little bees in spring. Then the bark really peels off and falls off in the winter. It's a copper color. It stands out against the white snow.

Doug: Wow. I don't know that tree. That's really cool. How big does that one get?

Adam: It generally stays below 30 feet tall. If it's in full sun, it can definitely get that high. It usually likes a little understory. Partial shade is where it thrives.

Doug: When it gets mature, is that when the bark really is doing its thing, or does it do it all the way along?

Adam: Yes. The whole time, it grows really fast for being a small ornamental maple. It peels off different directions. It's just really hard to explain, but it's a cool tree.

Doug: That's the first time in doing this podcast that I've heard of that tree. Adam, you get a special award today because I think, after all these years of doing the podcast, I've heard just about every tree. That's why I want to talk to somebody like you.

Adam: Yes, absolutely. It's something that's closely related is the paperbark maple. It's got a really cool, chocolatey, dark chocolate, reddish, tinged bark that's interesting. The same habit as the three-flowered maple, a nice fall color.

Doug: Can I grow that one in the shade?

Adam: Yes.

Doug: Okay, good. That's where I have it, but it's barely moving along in 10 years.

Adam: Is it getting a decent amount of sun throughout the day, or is it full shade?

Doug: Full shade under oak trees and bigger trees. It's growing slow, but that bark is a killer in the winter. It is so beautiful against the snow.

Adam: Yes, it really is. Those are really temperamental to how deep they're planted. If you raise it up and that root flare is well above grade, and it can throw those roots down on its own, it's going to really do a lot better than if it was planted a little bit deep.

Doug: As we record this, the Davey team is out there cutting trees down. I'd better have them look at that maple because I planted that before I knew about root flare. I hope I didn't plant it too deep. There's another job for them when they're done cutting down all my dead oaks. [chuckles]

Adam: Anything is for the business.

[laughter]

Doug: When you're considering something that has winter interest, does it have to have also the other seasons as far as interest? Is winter just like the bonus, or are some trees grown specifically for that really cool winter look?

Adam: Yes, there are so many trees that are interesting. A London planetree grows like mad, grows really fast. That bark is so cool. It looks camouflage, greenish, gray, brown. It's got all these different colors. It can really grow in any habitat. I've seen it all over the world growing really well.

Doug: Is a London plane and a sycamore the same thing, or they're just related?

Adam: Yes, they're related. It's half sycamore, half plane tree. Very similar growth habits, but a London planetree has a really nice central leader and that really interesting bark.

Doug: That one gets big, right?

Adam: Big, huge.

[laughter]

Doug: They are so cool, though. We see them in the city, and I do see them out on the edges of lakes and stuff like that. With the London plane, does it make big seeds or something that drop? I can't remember. I think I remember something falling off those trees.

Adam: It gets little balls. A sycamore has a single ball. A London planetree has a double ball. If you're walking around on bare feet, it's not great, but it's really pretty minimal. It's terrible to prune because those leaves are covered in this little fibrous thing that gets into the air and makes you cough.

Doug: Oh.

Adam: That's one negative. It doesn't have a fall color either. That's the other.

Doug: Actually, even during the season, that bark is quite a showstopper. That really takes center stage in the winter. What else are you thinking of?

Adam: If you really like evergreens, want screening, there's a whole plethora. There's concolor firs, just that nice light blue, soft-looking appearance. There's a Sunkist arborvitae, which is nice and yellow. It really stands out from other arborvitaes or the green foliage in the winter. The blue junipers, those Japanese junipers, like Trautman, really cool. The blueberries that's on there for cedar waxwings in the spring that'll come through. That's all things to think about.

Doug: That's a very fun thing to see. If you ever had a flock of cedar waxwings come to a juniper or a holly or something like that and spend a couple days there stripping the berries and then moving on, that's pretty exciting. I've only seen it twice on my property.

Adam: They're really beautiful birds. Man.

Doug: With the evergreens, when we're getting here to the end of the season, and I don't know what kind of season you've had, but we've had a dry one, the evergreens, from what I've learned from doing the podcast, they need water before things freeze, right?

Adam: Yes, exactly. They absorb water all winter long, despite how cold it gets. Watering them in real good is important.

Doug: With those evergreens that you were talking about, they all sound really interesting. Discuss that conversation you have, though, with a client on putting in a tree that they might not know, but of course, you know it because that's your job to know it, because, man, they all sound really cool, like a different arborvitae and the fir tree. Those are cool.

Adam: Showing them pictures is helpful. If it's a drier area, these evergreens really like a little bit drier, except in the winter. Of course, they need the water. If it's very sunny, these are all going to love full sun.

Doug: It's a big decision.

Adam: It is.

Doug: How big does that arborvitae get, the one that has the Sunkist?

Adam: Sunkist gets about the same size as a Techny, pretty wide for an arborvitae, probably 15 feet wide, easily.

Doug: Not only does it help screen out the neighbors, but it's a beautiful screen. [laughs]

Adam: It is. Yes, it really is. There's the Japanese white pine ornamental ones that collect snow that just look really cool in the winter.

Doug: Is a Japanese white pine different than what I'm thinking of for a normal white pine, or is it very similar? I don't know the difference between the two, or is there a difference?

Adam: They're definitely different. A little bit smaller habit. White pines can grow a lot. These Japanese white pines grow quite a bit less, more ornamental.

Doug: What are some other considerations if we're thinking about a tree that has this winter interest?

Adam: The berries, like I had mentioned on the juniper. If you get a crabapple, they can hold some berries or some crabapples over the winter. Winterberry shrubs. Those are great for feeding wildlife over the winter when they really need it.

Doug: Man, some of those crabapples now, those newer ones, they're just filled with bright berries. It's pretty amazing. Davey has tried to save this crabapple at my property two times because trees have fallen on it. All that's left is one little branch. I love crabapples, but this is an older one. Of course, every year it defoliates. I need a newer crabapple with tons of berries on it for the winter.

The other thing I like about crabapple, too, is after a couple frosts or freezes, then the birds will start on those little crabapples as they soften up.

Adam: Yes, absolutely. There's a lot of cool varieties out there that I don't even know the most updated ones. [crosstalk]

Doug: Breeders are coming out with them all the time, trying to make them disease-resistant and trying to fill them with berries. When I go to some of these public gardens, I see them all the time, and I'm blown away by just how beautiful they are without all those little apples on them. What was your season like? Ours was extremely cold and wet in the beginning, and then just drought. It's tough on the trees.

Adam: We got a ton of rain this summer. Everything was green here in Wisconsin. We were fortunate, but I know a lot of the country was very dry.

Doug: A pretty good season for you guys.

Adam: Yes. We had great tree weather.

Doug: Let me throw out a couple of trees that I have in my property, and I want to see what you think of them. One is the shagbark hickory. As I always talk about, I've got this declining oak forest, but that big hickory and that shagbark for me, that's definitely a star in winter.

Adam: Yes, absolutely. The hickories, that shedding bark, is super cool. Plus, I don't know if you knew this, you can make hickory syrup from just the bark flaking off.

Doug: What?

Adam: Yes. You can make a tea. Strip it off, clean off the bark, toast it in the oven until it gets gray, and then you can crumble it down, make a tea, boil it, and then, when it looks like the right color, make a simple syrup, half water, half sugar. It's way better than maple syrup.

Doug: Wow. I never heard of that before.

Adam: It's got a nice smoky flavor.

Doug: Is my wife going to go for the bark in the stove? Is that going to be okay?

Adam: Oh, yes. It's great. It makes the house smell wonderful in the winter.

[laughter]

Doug: It's a hickory winter.

Adam: Yes.

Doug: Wow, that's good to know. That'll be a fun experiment to do during the winter. That's a great one. I want to throw out one more for you that doesn't get much love with arborists, but it's one of my favorites, stewartias. They're not a big tree. I love the bark. They're shaped nice, decent fall color. I love the flowers in June, but it's underused and maybe not as hardy as we would like.

Adam: Yes, definitely not hardy in my neck of the woods.

Doug: Oh, yes. Too cold there?

Adam: Yes.

Doug: It's barely hardy here. That's always a concern when we have a polar vortex.

Adam: Yes. Those red twig dogwoods-

Doug: Oh, yes.

Adam: -those really show up nice in the winter. A little breath of fresh air.

Doug: Easy to grow. That one is really easy to grow.

Adam: Yes, it'll grow anywhere.

Doug: Yes. Like you said, boy, that bright red against a little snow is perfect. Did you guys get good snow cover last year?

Adam: No, we got nothing.

Doug: Wow.

Adam: It was pretty great for doing tree work, but not good for replenishing our lakes and-

Doug: I hear you.

Adam: -ponds.

Doug: Anything else on your list?

Adam: If you want, peegee hydrangeas. Beautiful in the summer. They're flowering even right now. Those flowers will turn brown. You can leave them on in the winter, which adds a little bit of interest, too. A lot of good in those.

Doug: Another good suggestion, definitely. Pretty easy to grow. Understory plant, right, or do they need full sun?

Adam: They'll flower the best in full sun, but they enjoy partial shade. Really easy to contain. Pruning, even every year, that new growth will put on flowers, which is pretty unique for flowering plants.

Doug: I know we talked about it before, but remind me how you got into this and why this job's right for you.

Adam: If you look at my photo roll on my camera, and I travel all over the world, that's all it is, is trees. That's all I look at. We go all over the world, and I'm just looking at the trees. It's in my blood. I don't think I have a choice.

Doug: How do the rest of the travelers feel about that when you've got to stop and say, "Holy cow, there's a eucalyptus. You guys keep walking"?

Adam: [laughs] The eye rolls I get. [laughter] Lots of eye rolls.

Doug: That's really cool. Tell me a little bit about that. I'd like to pick your brain a little bit about that, your travels, and seeing these different trees, because when I'm traveling, those trees are a mystery to me. Do you always know what they are, even though they're in some different country?

Adam: I don't. I think that's the fun of traveling for me, is looking up what they are. In Sydney, I was just awestruck by these London planetrees. That's where I fell in love with them and planted three of them immediately when I got back at my house. They're just really cool. The eucalyptus in Tasmania were just unbelievable. It's hard to describe them. It's like the redwoods, majestic.

Doug: I agree. I saw eucalyptus for the first time in Costa Rica. It might have been something with the word rainbow in it or something. The bark had all these different colors in it. It was stunning.

Adam: There's these trees around hot springs in New Zealand that are covered in this orange fungus. I don't know if you've ever been to a distillery that does distilling bourbon or whatever. All the trees are black. In New Zealand, they were covered in orange. That was really interesting. I had to get to the bottom of why that was happening.

Doug: Why is it happening? [laughs]

Adam: Just the sulfur in the air. It creates a great habitat for this fungus that is orange, bright orange, like deer-hunting orange.

Doug: I think you've got a new career, the traveling arborist, showing us all the trees around the world. How cool? That's awesome. I'm glad we uncovered that in our talk. That's really cool stuff.

Adam: The fern trees in New Zealand, oh my gosh. Some of the coolest trees I've ever seen.

Doug: That flight is tough, though.

Adam: Yes, especially when you're 6'6".

[laughter]

Doug: Oh, man. Oh, a 6'6" tree man on a 24-hour flight.

Adam: Yes.

Doug: Oh, boy. Adam, thanks for all the winter interest trees and the little travel log. That's awesome stuff. We need to see some of those pictures, though. I'm going to have to work that out, get that on the website or something. That's cool stuff. Especially, I want to see those orange ones. That's really cool. Thanks so much for your time. I appreciate talking to you, and I'm sure we'll talk again in the future.

Adam: Absolutely. Thanks so much. Great talking.

Doug: That was a lot of fun. I sure enjoyed talking to Adam. Now, tune in every Thursday, the Talking Trees podcast from the Davey Tree Expert Company. I'm your host, Doug Oster. As always, I want you to subscribe to the podcast so that you'll never miss a show. What should we be covering on this podcast? Let us know. There's a couple of different ways to do that. You can send us an email to podcasts@davey.com. That's P-O-D-C-A-S-T-S-@-D-A-V-E-Y.com. You can also click the link at the end of our show notes to text us a fan mail message. Your ideas could be on a future podcast, and we'd love to hear from you.

As always, we like to remind you on the Talking Trees podcast, trees are the answer.

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