Welcome to Spring
By CINDA RAMAY

Blood root

Spring is sprung! Spring is in the air. Spring is a time of new beginnings and new growth of trees and plants-all are a joy to see.

Four plants that bloom in early spring are dogwood, redbud, serviceberry and bloodroot.

The dogwood tree (Cornus florida) is a staple of the mountain scene. It thrives under a canopy of larger trees. It likes moist, nutrient rich soil. It is long a favorite of homeowners for its early blooms, luxuriant leaves and modest size. This is a versatile tree, but please remember it can be easily damaged by lawn mowers or rough handling.

Redbud trees (Cercis Canadensis) are known for their purplish pink flowers. Their optimum height is 30 feet with a rounded spread of 25 feet. Remember that the redbud has a yellow fall color and is shade tolerant. Redbuds do suffer from insect damage by treehoppers who lay eggs under the bark. These insects are seldom harmful and can be treated with 10 tablespoons of mineral oil in a gallon of water. Dieback on these trees can occur as a canker on a branch. There is no chemical control for this problem. Prune out the diseased branch. Leaf spots can occur during wet weather but are rarely serious. No chemical controls are necessary. Finally, verticillium wilt can attack a redbud. Prune out the wilted branches and fertilize with a high nitrogen fertilizer only if necessary.

Serviceberry

The serviceberry (Amelanchier) is another small native tree or shrub in the mountains. This tree is known by many names such as juneberry, mespitas, sarvis, shad-bush, shad blossom or currant tree. This tree was well known in American folklore. When this plant flowered the American pioneers knew the ground had thawed enough for the burial of the winter's dead.

These plants have alternate, entire or finely serrated leaves. Their leaves often turn a brilliant orange or red in the fall. The flowers are white, 2-4 cm diameter with five petals. The flowers appear in early spring and according to tradition they appear "when the shad run." Thus the name shadbush. Their fruit is small-1-2 cm diameter and blue-black in color. It is sweet, edible and matures in the summer. Deer and rabbits love to eat the berries. Moths have a taste for these berries also. Unfortunately the same diseases and insects that attack orchards may affect these plants.

Redbud

Finally, one herald of spring is the bloodroot plant (Sanguinaris Canadensis). This perennial is a native herbaceous flowering plant. Bloodroot is also known as bloodwort, red puccoon root, pauson and tetterwort. Bloodroot grows 60 cm tall with one large sheath-like multi lobed leaf. Flowers are seen from March to May with 8-12 white petals. They also have yellow reproductive parts that are attached to the leaf. This is a very short lived flower, but the leaves can be seen through mid summer when the plant becomes dormant. Please note the bloodroot stores sap in an underground rhizome -which is toxic. Also Bloodroot is one of many plants that are spread by ants-a true cycle of nature.

In conclusion a historical use of bloodroot was in the making of a reddish dye by early settlers and Native Americans.

Dogwood