WINTER CREEKSIDE TREES AND SHRUBS

      During winter, several kinds of trees and shrubs have unique features that enhance their beauties, and that of the floodplains along many creeks in southeastern Pennsylvania.  All these lovely, woody plants are without foliage in winter, which allows us to easily see their other attractive characteristics along local waterways.  The unique traits of these flood-tolerant species also help us identify them.

     Sycamore trees have mottled bark that can be seen from a distance, indicating the presence of those trees, and the waterways they develop along.  The patch work appearance of sycamore bark is because of the darker, outer bark falling away in little pieces, which reveals the lighter, inner bark.

     Sycamores also bear decorative seed balls on long stems.  Those petulant balls help make sycamores attractive when they swing in the wind.   

     Maturing shag-bark hickory trees have bark that peels off in long, vertical strips.  Each strip flares out at both ends, but remains attached by its middle to hickory trunks and branches.  Many long strips peeling off at once makes shag-barks' rough bark appear beautifully rugged and rustic.  

     Hickories also bear many attractive nuts in autumn, most of which fall to the ground.  Each nut has a green outer husk that is divided into four parts and turns black with age.  The off-white shell inside the husk is very hard.  Only squirrels have teeth sharp enough and jaws powerful enough to gnaw into the husk and shell of each nut to get to the edible "meat".

     Honey locust trees have many clumps of sharp thorns that are two or three inches long, which, I suppose, grow to protect the bark of these trees from gnawing mammals.  These long, thorns are unique to local floodplains and add to the interest of those flood-prone habitats.  

     Ash-leafed maple trees bear green twigs, and pairs of winged seeds, which are attractive in the trees through much of winter.  Buds and those green twigs are browsed by white-tailed deer.  And gray squirrels and certain kinds of birds eat the seeds through much of winter.  Some seeds, eventually, spin away, like helicopter blades, on the wind.  Some of those seeds take root in sunny habitats and become sapling trees.

     Pin oaks retain many of their dead, ginger-colored leaves on their twigs through winter, making those oaks decorative.  Sleet rattles through that dry, dead foliage and chickadees and other small birds pick insect eggs off those beautiful leaves.

     River birch bark peels off in many attractive, tight curls all over their trees' trunks and branches.  Those many curls at once make these trees beautifully ragged and rustic in appearance.

     Red-twigged dogwoods are shrubs in floodplains that have attractively red stems in winter.  Those stems stand out vividly and beautifully before other plants and snow.    

     Speckled alders are shrubs that grow right on the waters' edges.  In winter, some of them bear multitudes of deep-purple catkins and tiny, wooden seed-cones, making some creek-sides more lovely to experience.

     Some of the trees, including sycamores, hickories, ash-leafed maples and pin oaks, become massive and riddled with cavities made by woodpeckers and wind ripping limbs off the trees.  Those hollows become wonderful homes for many kinds of birds and mammals of various sizes, from chickadees and house wrens to gray squirrels, raccoons, barred owls and wood ducks.    

     These trees and shrubs are beautiful to experience in winter.  When walking or riding through a forested floodplain, watch for these various kinds of woody plants.

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