Growing Indigenous Trees from Seeds

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Indigenous trees are those native species that have grown in our area since before European colonization.  They are suited to our climate.  They support our indigenous wildlife and make our landscape unique.

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North American trees were so highly valued in 17^th and 18^th Century Europe that a lively trade grew up between botanists in the ‘colonies’ willing to collect, package and ship seeds, and European plantsman eager to receive those packages and grow out the seeds.  North American trees were preferred for landscaping European parks and estates.  Beautiful flowers, autumn color and graceful structure made them instantly popular.  They added to the biodiversity of regions which had lost much of their forest, in prior generations.

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And as Europeans favored North American trees, so we often value Asian trees and shrubs and gravitate towards showy, named woody cultivars so commonly found at local garden centers.  Common native species that crop up in fields and on roadsides may not hold much appeal for us.  And even if we want to grow an indigenous tree, they are difficult to buy.

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Acorns may be found in September through December in our area

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Collecting seeds and growing indigenous trees provides a tremendous service to our community.  Growing trees from seed takes time, but is a simple, enjoyable activity for gardeners with itchy fingers who want to make a living contribution to the community.

September through December is the prime time to collect many fresh seeds.  Pick up acorns, beech nuts, hickory nuts, seed pods from redbud trees, ripe maple seeds, black locust pods, and opened cones with fresh pine seeds.

Seeds from woody plants respond well to soaking in hot water for several hours up to a day, depending on their freshness, before planting.   This allows water to enter the seed coat and trigger metabolism.  Consider soaking in a clean thermos bottle to keep the water hot, longer.

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Redbud tree seedpods

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Seeds may be wrapped in damp paper towel and kept in a baggy until they sprout, or they may be ‘planted’ in a baggy filled no more than halfway with damp sand, peat based potting soil or damp vermiculite.  Some seeds need light to germinate.  Other seeds need an extended period of either warm or cold stratification to germinate.  Ilex species grow best after passing through a bird’s digestive system, where the acids help prepare the seed coat.  Some seeds are ready to grow when fresh.

A little research on a particular species’ needs indicates whether heat, cold, or both is required for germination.  Seeds requiring cold stratification may be kept outside over winter or placed in the produce drawer of your refrigerator for several weeks.  Seeds needing warmth often respond well to a spot in the kitchen near a pilot light or a cabinet over the stove.

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Beautyberry seeds are found within the tiny purple berries. These native shrubs reseed themselves prolifically with little assistance from a gardener.  They are most commonly ‘planted’ by a bird. 

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When collecting acorns and other seeds, try to identify the parent tree.  A photo of the tree in leaf will help you identify or confirm the particular species later. Label the container used while collecting.

Once home, float each batch of seeds in a container of warm water.  Seeds that sink are viable, and those that float likely are not.  Look for any small holes where insects may have burrowed inside, and discard these.  If collecting a lot of seeds, it is useful to keep a log with details about each batch.

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An oak tree growing beside the James River near Jamestown produced many of the acorns I gathered last autumn.

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Oaks are some of the easiest trees to grow from seed.  The seeds are easy to find and to collect, and ripe acorns can be found from September through early winter.  Oaks species native to the South, like the Live Oak, Quercus virginiana, may germinate immediately.  Those native to northern regions, such as Quercus rubra, the Northern Red Oak, will likely need a period of cold stratification before germination.

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Test the seeds you gather by placing them in a container of warm water. Those that sink are viable, any that float, after a few hours of soaking, likely aren’t going to germinate.

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After soaking acorns in hot water for six hours or more, remove the caps and sow the seed.  If space isn’t a concern, each may be potted up in a 4”-6” pot, labeled, and then set aside in a protected area outdoors to sprout.  Otherwise, wrap the viable seeds in moist paper towels, or mix with medium, and seal in a labeled plastic bag.  Those that need cold stratification may be kept outdoors on a porch or in the produce drawer of your refrigerator.   Begin to watch for signs of germination after about 8 weeks of cold stratification.

In the wild, seeds wait to germinate until the weather will support their growth.  The period of cold stratification through the winter is needed before the warmth of ‘spring’ allows the seed to crack open and begin to grow.  A seed that germinates too early might begin to grow before weather conditions are favorable for its development.

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The Compton Oak, a natural hybrid of Quercus virginiana and Quercus lyrata, grows in the Colonial area of Williamsburg.  Quercus virginiana can be found growing throughout Colonial Williamsburg.

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Seeds started in a baggy may be planted into pots once they have cracked open and the root has appeared.  To plant the germinated seeds, mix up an appropriate potting mix from fine pine bark mulch, compost, soaked peat, with some builder’s sand or perlite added to improve drainage.  Let 2 parts be bark mulch, 1 part compost or peat and 1 part sand or perlite.  If using a commercial potting soil, mix it with an equal amount of bark mulch.  After planting the seed, mulch each pot with about ¼” of chicken grit, vermiculite, or fine aquarium gravel.

Most indigenous seeds begin to grow in forest duff, if they survive hungry squirrels, insects and birds, that is!  They don’t need coddling so long as you can meet their basic needs.  These seeds can germinate under a light layer of fallen leaves or pine tags, and some actually benefit from light during germination.

Of course, insects, squirrels or deer eating a seed like an acorn destroys it.  But when birds eat berries, the seed passes through their body intact.  Often the digestive acids help break down the seed coat to prepare it for germination.  That is why seeds encapsulated in fruits, like holly seeds and dogwood seeds, benefit from being ‘planted’ by birds.  Holly seeds may need more than a year before they can germinate.

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Native Redbud trees, Cercis canadensis, brighten the spring landscape.  These neat trees never grow very tall, and perform well in partial shade.

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Protect newly planted seeds from squirrels by placing the pots on a screened porch, in a cold frame, or in a container, such as a clear plastic box, with a lid.  Check the seeds regularly to make sure the soil is moist.  Once the seeds sprout, and new growth is visible, allow the plants to grow on in a partially shaded spot.

Expect to grow your baby trees for some time so they are well- established before they are transplanted.  Once growing, move the seedlings up to a deep enough pot for roots to develop without circling the pot.  Take care not to damage the main tap root.  A 1 gallon pot is a good start.

Wait until fall to transplant your seedling tree into its permanent spot.  If deer are a problem in your area, you may need to protect the seedling from their grazing for the first several years.  I had a seedling oak tree, that I purchased from the Arbor Day Foundation, grazed several winters in a row.  It would regrow the following spring from its roots.  Only after I protected it did the deer finally leave it alone long enough for it to grow above their reach.

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You can offer your indigenous seedling trees to neighbors or friends, or offer them to a local native plant sale.

However we get them into the community, we can use these indigenous trees to teach the larger community to value our native, indigenous trees; and make them available as an alternative to the mass produced trees so commonly available at local retail nurseries.

It is an investment in beauty.  It is an investment in preserving our local landscapes and the web of life they support.

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Woodland Gnome 2020

For more information:

Bubel, Nancy.  The New Seed-Starter’s Handbook.  Rodale Press.  Emmaus PA.  1988.

Copp, Catherine. Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns: The Complete Guide to Growing Oak Trees From Seed. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. 2017.

Dirr, Michael A. and Charles W. Heuser, Jr.  The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation from Seed to Tissue Cultures. Varsity Press, Inc.  Cary, NC.  2006.

Druse, Ken.  Making More Plants: The Science, Art, and Joy of Propagation.  Clarkson Potter/Publishers.  New York, NY.  2000.

Wulf, Andrea. The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire, and the Birth of an Obsession.  Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.  New York, NY. 2019.

Native Virginia Trees

Choosing A Tree

Obsession: Botany and Empire, As Seen From Jamestown Virginia

Native trees:

American Sycamore

Redbud Tree

American Holly Tree

 

 

WPC: Awakening

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“The world is exploding in emerald, sage,

and lusty chartreuse – neon green with so much yellow in it.

It is an explosive green that,

if one could watch it moment by moment throughout the day,

would grow in every dimension.”

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Amy Seidl

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“For a seed to achieve its greatest expression,

it must come completely undone.

The shell cracks, its insides come out

and everything changes.

To someone who doesn’t understand growth,

it would look like complete destruction.”

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Cynthia Occelli

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Meaning is only found

when you go beyond meaning.

Life only makes sense

when you perceive it as mystery

and it makes no sense

to the conceptualizing mind.”

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Anthony de Mello

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“Waking up from a deep sleep,

I always seem to be discovering life

for the first time.”

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Marty Rubin

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“A single event

can awaken within us

a stranger totally unknown to us.

To live is to be slowly born.”

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Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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Woodland Gnome 2018

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For the Daily Post’s

Weekly Photo Challenge:  Awakening

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“My speaking is meant to shake you awake,

not to tell you how to dream better.”

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Adyashanti

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Sunday Dinner: Grateful

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“I am grateful for what I am and have.

My thanksgiving is perpetual.

It is surprising how contented one can be

with nothing definite –

only a sense of existence.

… I am ready to try this 

for the next ten thousand years,

and exhaust it …

 My breath is sweet to me.

O how I laugh when I think

of my vague indefinite riches.

No run on my bank can drain it,

for my wealth is not possession

but enjoyment.”

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Henry David Thoreau

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“Be thankful for your allotment in an imperfect world.  

Though better circumstances can be imagined,

far worse are nearer misses

than you probably care to realize.”

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Richelle E. Goodrich

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“You have to be able to slow down enough

to switch your focus away from

all the ways things could be better,

to know how good they already are.”

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Katherine Ellison

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“One single gift acknowledged in gratefulness

has the power to dissolve the ties of our alienation.”

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David Steindl-Rast

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“It’s a funny thing about life,

once you begin to take note

of the things you are grateful for,

you begin to lose sight

of the things that you lack.”

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Germany Kent

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“Behind every creative act is a statement of love.

Every artistic creation is a statement of gratitude.”

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Kilroy J. Oldster

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“The single greatest cause of happiness is gratitude.”

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Auliq-Ice

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Photos By Woodland Gnome 2017

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“Don’t ever stop believing in your own transformation.

It is still happening

even on days you may not realize it

or feel like it.”

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Lalah Delia

Blossom XXII: “…and Spring After Winter.”

Redbud

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“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth

find reserves of strength

that will endure as long as life lasts.

There is something infinitely healing

in the repeated refrains of nature –

– the assurance that dawn comes after night,

and spring after winter.”

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Rachel Carson

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“Live in each season as it passes;

breathe the air, drink the drink,

taste the fruit,

and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.”

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Henry David Thoreau

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2017

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“I only went out for a walk

and finally concluded to stay out

till sundown,

for going out, I found, was really going in.”

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John Muir

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Blossom I

Blossom II

Blossom III

Blossom IV

Blossom V

Blossom VI

Blossom VII

Blossom VIII

Blossom IX

Blossom X

Blossom XI

Blossom XII

Blossom XIII

Blossom XIV

Blossom XV

Blossom XVI

Blossom XVII

Blossom XVIII

Blossom XIX

Blossom XX

Blossom XXI

Our Native Redbud Tree

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A redbud tree in full bloom grabs my attention like no other spring blooming tree.  They just light up suddenly, like a neon beacon in the edge of the tree line; transforming from non-descript to gorgeous in the space of a day.

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This North American native, Cercis canadensis, grows wild in our woods.  Although there are a few cultivars available, including a white variety, the species pleases me just fine.

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And unlike many of the spring blooming fruit trees which show visible buds for weeks, waiting for the winter to pass; the blossoms of a redbud tree simply break directly out of the bark, anywhere and everywhere.  It is an amazing sight to see in early spring.

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Never particularly large, these trees survive to an advanced age.  And as they age, they keep growing and blooming year to year despite all manner of scars, injuries, and chaotic growth.  They have that courageous spirit of perseverance which expresses the heart and soul of springtime’s beauty.

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The redbud remains a quintessentially American tree.  They grow from The Hudson Bay south to the Gulf coast in eastern North America.

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I’ve grown up loving them every spring of my life, save one when I was in Europe in April and missed them.  They bloom soon after the Forsythia each year, but several days before the Dogwood’s buds open.

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Their flowers appear days before their leaves.  They bloom when the forest remains mostly bare, with just a hint of green haze as the leaves of larger trees break bud.  Their flowers feed bees and other nectar loving insects in early spring when there are few flowers in bloom.

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Mature redbud trees may grow wider than they grow tall.  Never growing more than 20 to 30 feet, redbud remains an understory tree, growing in the partial shade of the forest’s edge and around homes.

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After their flowers fade, beautiful heart shaped leaves appear, followed by seed pods which look like Asian pea pods. The leaves turn gold in autumn before they fall.

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The redbud is a member of the pea, or Fabaceae family.  The flowers and seedpods are edible, and parts of the redbud tree were used by our Native Americans for food.  I’ve heard that their seedpods are good in salad, but can’t say I’ve tried them myself…

Every flower, once pollinated, forms a seed pod.  You can imagine that in a few months time the pods hang thickly from the branches.

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And every pod contains several seeds, tasty to wildlife.  So many seeds form, that many survive to germinate.  The trees grow very quickly.  They shoot up in just a few years to get their branches high enough to catch the sunlight through the surrounding growth.  Slowly, they begin to fill out their rounded canopies as the years go by.

Redbud trees also help improve the soil and nourish other plants.  As legumes, members of the pea family, they can fix nitrogen, taken from the air, in the soil around their roots.  Their fallen leaves and seed pods also feed the soil as they decompose each winter.

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We were happy to find several redbud trees in our garden here.  We have one very large old one in the back near the ravine, and several much younger ones along the street.  We spot a new one in bloom every year or so, and I’ve planted at least two over the past few years.  One was a seedling sprouted in the wrong place, which I moved.  The other was a gift, which I grew on in a pot for a few years, before putting it into the ground earlier this spring.  Now it has just come into bloom for the first time.

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Mid- April, when the redbuds are in full bloom, the Dogwoods are opening, and the Azalea buds have begun to swell, is one of my favorite times of the year.  The bare woody bones of winter burst into vivid flowers and cover themselves with tender green leaves.  What astounding beauty manifests all around us each April.

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Woodland Gnome 2015

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Eastern Redbud Tree

In our region, springtime means rapid change in the landscape, at times, hour by hour.  Once our days, and nights, begin to warm, everything in the  garden visibly responds.

The lawn grows shaggy and green, often brushed with the hues of magically appearing wild flowers.  (Note I call them flowers.  There are those who call them “weeds” and spray noxious chemicals to eradicate them.)

Besides the greening lawns and most welcome beds of daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths, the most stunning transformation in springtime is our trees.

At first a hazy blur in the canopies as their buds begin to swell, suddenly the trees pop into color one by one.  Some soft green, others white or pink.  And on one magical day,  in early spring, the  Redbud trees burst into color.

The native Eastern Redbud, Cercis canadensis, is one of the amazing trees the early European colonists discovered growing in the forests along the East Coast of North America, and sent home to gardeners back in England.

The native variety blooms in deep pink; almost magenta.  When the buds begin to show, it is curious to find them not only on the tips of twigs, as one expects to find apple or cherry blossoms, but also growing directly out of the trunk and larger brancehs!  The wood stems are just all of a sudden covered in these gorgeous pink buds.

Native in the North Eastern Unite d States, and north into Canada, Cercis Canadensis lives in Zones 4-8.

Since it prefers moist soils, it doesn’t grow well west of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, unless it is irrigated during dry spells.

Growing in sun to partial shade, this small tree is most often found as an understory plant along the edges of forested areas, and now in  suburban yards.  Redbud grows to around 30′ at maturity, with a spread of perhaps 25′.

The tree was considered a delicacy by the Native Americans.  They ate the flowers either raw or boiled.    Seeds, from the long pods which come along in summer, were roasted and enjoyed.

The tender green tips of new branches are still cooked with Venison and other wild meats today, in parts of Appalachia, as a seasoning.  One of the common names for this tree is, the “Spicewood Tree.”

The Redbud tree has been hybridized in recent years to create many ornamental versions for the nursery trade.  Although the native form has beautiful heart shaped leaves of medium green, newer hybirds offer various leaf colors from plum to orange.

Hybrids offer various colors of spring flowers from white varieties, through every shade of pink and several shades of purple.

An important early food source for bees, the Redbud also feeds squirrels and birds when its seeds ripen.  Its leaves are an important food source for various caterpillars.

Redbud trees readily naturalize from their abundant seed production.  Where there is one, there will often be many where the seedlings are allowed to grow undisturbed.

They have few pests or disease problems.  Because they grow relatively slowly, and remain small, they are a welcome addition to the garden.  They offer springtime color, summer shade, an easily managed growth habit, and benefits for wildlife.

Photos by Woodland Gnome 2014