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Autumn Leaves

'Dancing Peacock' Someone needs to write a song... :) With an atmospheric river and 30 mph winds predicted this past weekend, I was afraid the ginkgo, which had just started to turn color, would be stripped.  We were lucky though and it remains intact. Gingko 'Princeton Sentry' After the storm... The Black Tupelo (Nyssa slyvatica) changes color from the inside out - The above photo was taken last week. Here it is today - 'Wolf Eyes' Dogwood (Cornus kousa) has never had such pink color - Catalpa bignonioides 'Aurea', Crape Myrtle 'Dynamite' ( Lagerstroemia ), and Persian Ironwood ( Parrotia persica ) - Japanese Maple 'Beni Hime' - Serviceberry 'Autumn Brilliance' ( Amelanchier ) with tree peonies - Stewartia pyschocamellia starts the color show early. It has since faded to a much softer color - Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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Strawberry Tree


Since moving to Washington, I have discovered a great number of new trees. One of my favorites is the Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo). It is a four-season tree with semi-glossy evergreen leaves and lovely mahogany bark. In autumn, clusters of white flowers appear, bearing a resemblance to Lily-of-the-Valley flowers. And then there are the little fruits, which resemble strawberries that appear at the same time as the flowers. I am not sure why, but I have only seen a few fruits on ours. I don't know if birds are getting them before I see them or what happens. The fruits are said to be edible but not very tasty (to humans).

This year, our tree is loaded with flowers, the most I've ever seen. Bees absolutely love it and so do the hummingbirds. The flowers usually continue to appear straight through winter, and it can be blooming even during the coldest periods of winter.

Aside from the fact that I have not seen much of the colorful fruits, the major negative note is the fact that the limbs seem to break easily. We have had breakage during two big snowfalls, the worst happening last winter and resulting in a big chunk of the middle of the tree leaving an ugly hole. I pruned the damaged branches back and it is slowly filling back in.

This is a Mediterranean-climate loving tree and it does well in dry summers. It doesn't mind water either and ours get regular watering. 



Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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  1. Kris PetersonOctober 30, 2024 at 7:24 PM

    Mine are loaded with blooms this year too but I assumed that was because I delayed my annual tree pruning exercise. Maybe not as you're having the same experience. I don't think even the birds like the fruit ;)

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  2. Hoover BooNovember 6, 2024 at 7:12 PM

    Agree, it is a beautiful tree, the bark, the flowers, everything. Fruit just doesn't taste like anything at all, really. Bland. Once thought to be native to Ireland as well as the Mediterranean, now some think it was introduced to Ireland from the Iberian peninsula as long ago as the Neolithic--4000 years ago.

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