A TALE OF TWO BEECHES; WHY IS THE ONE ON THE LEFT DARKER THAN THE ONE ON THE RIGHT?
Fagus grandifolia. Â Walking Keeba on Saturday morning, we noticed that these two young Beech trees had different colors in the leaves.
This Monday morning, while walking Keeba, the Beech trees were rattling in the breeze. Â The leaves of the Beeches stay on through the winter, and they turn yellow and brownish, and they get brittle. Â When the wind blows the leaves rattle. On a quiet winter’s day, while working in Morris Park removing invasives, this rattling sound is the only sound in the forest.
The two beech trees in the photo above were covered with grape vines this fall. The one to the right is still leaning a bit from the vestigial impact of the vines. The Vines have been removed and the trees now have a chance to grow.
The fallen tree behind the Beeches is an oak tree, and its status is considered a log. A log is a fallen tree.
The very dark and thin tree to the left foreground is an American Chestnut (Castenea dentata).  This tree has been reduced to the status of a forest shrub or small tree, from originally the dominant forest tree in the canopy. The American Chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica) introduced from Asian chestnut trees is responsible for this condition.  The blight does not effect the tree below the ground, so the root systems are able to grow a new tree after the old one dies.  The thin tree to the left foreground may very well be hundreds of years old.  This specimen has been leafing out and growing taller year after year. However the blight, in the form of a fungus, tears apart the bark, and the tree may not live another year. (however the actual specimen will remain alive in its root system)  The roots have already sent out new shoots, which will grow into a new tree.
In Morris Park, there are a significant number of Chestnut trees in comparison to the rest of the city and county of Philadelphia. Â This year, one of them even flowered and produced seeds, for the first time in at least five years (Since we first monitored them).
All of the trees we discussed today are in the same family, Fagaceae. A family trait they all share is that they all retain some of their leaves throughout the winter.
The Tulip Poplar at the end of the block drops another branch
Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) is a tall and majestic tree with beautiful green and orange tulip- like flowers that is best enjoyed a safe distance from any property. Â This fast-growing native tree has the best chance of rebuilding the forest canopy in now blighted sections of Morris Park. We were surprised to see a specimen at the Mt Cuba Center that was at least 25 feet tall and had a decent girth, that was planted only 12 years ago. It was planted after an older tree had fallen, opening up a hole in the canopy that would have created a problematic situation for their piedmont woodland garden. Â The Tulip poplar, a pioneer species in forest regeneration, provided the shade and dappled light needed by woodland beauties such as bluebells (Mertensia virginiana) Â and the many species of Trillium represented at Mt Cuba Center.
In Morris Park , we have no need to plant Tulip Poplar in the canopy holes. Â All we do is remove the invasives, and one will start growing on its own. Â In fact we have to weed them out of our garden all the time. Â The best ones we transplant deeper in the park in blighted areas, so they get an early start, before we have the chance to remove the invasives.
Some of the finest Tulip Poplar specimens we have ever seen can be found in the Wissahickon Valley gorge, a section Of Fairmount Park right here in Philadelphia. These trees are gigantic, with very wide and straight trunks, towering into the forest. Â Just walk along the Forbidden Drive and look up the hill, on the west side of the road, all along the route and they can be seen, often growing in the small ravines that spill into the Wissahickon.
The Tulip Poplar branch
Here we have only touched upon the many redeeming qualities of the Tulip Poplar, and there is much more to expound upon concerning its place in the forest and its attributes that make for a great and magnificent forest tree. Â However, it does have a bit of a habit that can be troublesome if one is located too close to something that is best not crushed on a yearly basis. The wood is soft and and the branches easily dismount and will careen towards your most valued objects if they are near the tree. Â The branch will make a loud cracking sound first, giving a warning to all that will heed the call. Weather is not always the only thing that will make it fall. A bit of rot on one part of the branch can make it fall anytime.
A word of warning: Listening to ones I-pod while in the forest is not recommended. The forest is the kind of place where all of ones senses should be  alert, especially in the city. Not long ago a young woman was found dead in the Wissahickon, with a large tree branch on top of her. Her i-pod was still playing music when they found her.  We often wonder if she could’ve reacted more appropriately if she was able to hear the branch cracking, before it crashed down.
Also, climbing a Tulip Poplar is not recommended. Here the saying “going out on a limb” most applies.
THE DAMAGE
The split branch of the dogwood tree
Here it is, a little Dogwood (Cornus florida) sapling that was split in half from the pummeling missile that violently plunged down in its exact direction. See how low in the trunk it was hit? This could seriously compromise the tree’s chance of survival. We planted this tree from the funds provided our block by the Philadelphia Department of Street’s Philadelphia More Beautiful Committee. By entering the block in the yearly most beautiful block contest, we were awarded a small amount of money to beautify the block, which is how this tree was purchased.
It was planted at the very terminus of the block, which ends at the park, in an area we call the horseshoe (because of the the two paths on each side of the street, which curve together to meet at the top of a small hill). The vision was that someday there would be this elegant native tree, that in the spring would provide a beautiful display of flowers framed at the end of the block, for all to see.
The spot where it was planted was previously covered with the invasive exotic saplings of Norway maple (Acer platanoides), the exotic invasive groundcover English Ivy (Hedera helix), Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) an herbaceous invasive exotic and Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria). Â Also in this spot was dumped material, with at least 700 pounds of concrete rubble, old bricks, potato chip bags dating back to the 70s, bottles, electrical wire, car parts etc. Â
What is left of the Dogwood sapling
The good news is that half of the tree is still alive! Â Hopefully by may of 2030, there will be a halfway decent dogwood tree with some nice blooms on it. We had originally planted two of them, but one suddenly died without prior notice, possibly from the dogwood anthracnose disease, a blight affecting these beautiful native trees.
The Groundhog Day storm was alot of ice pelting down for about an hour or so early this morning, resulting in the branch that fell, some freezing rain and then just rain later on. Â Off in the park, a Sassafrass branch (Sassafrass albidum) came down from a mature specimen.
Why does the Tulip Poplar break so easily? What is the evolutionary advantage of this? Â Perhaps, because the tree is so tall (The tallest in the canopy in these parts) it needs to stay tall and compete. Â What use is an old lower branch that is not getting that much sun and using up needed resources? Â If they break off easily after serving their usefulness, the tree will be better served, able to redirect those resources to growing ever taller branches, outcompeting other trees.
a closer look at the point of breakage
The blackened area at the very tip is not rot, but dirt. Â The branch went into the ground like a spear before rebounding to its present location.
Walking the dog this morning, we noted how many small trees and shrubs in Morris Park were leaning heavily or were broken. These were only in the unrestored areas that have lots of vines covering them. Â In all of the areas we had worked on removing the invasive vines, the trees and shrubs were doing fine in this heavy snow. Pointing to a Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) that had broken in half under the weight, Sean said “if only we got to that one, it would’ve taken only a few minutes to remove those vines. Â Now its ruined.”
Tulip Poplar broken in half
With large areas of the forest without tall trees, there is concern about the future of the forest canopy in the area of Morris Park we are focusing on. When the large trees are dying off one by one, and there are few mid-sized trees, a whole species of tree is blighted so badly that it never reaches even near maturity, and the small trees are under assault from the invasive vines, we wonder what it will take to bring this under control.
We have seen other areas of the park that are further advanced in this process of environmental degradation. It was difficult to even access these areas, because the invasives were so prevalant, they created an impenetrable wall.  We did manage to see them however, and it is not a pretty sight. No tall trees at all. The only trees were Ailanthus Altissima, the tree of heaven, covered in either  the invasive exotics Multiflora rose(Rosa multiflora) or Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica). Mile-a-minute vine covers the dead tree trunks of the former forest.  These areas do not look like a woodland at all. There are no herbaceaous plants on the forest floor . Everything is a dense thicket of invasive vines.
The area that we are concerned with is on its way to this final stage of forest destruction.There was this one area of Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) that looked especially at risk this morning. Â The shrubs were buried in the snow.
Spicebush nears breakage from invasive vines and snow weight.
However, with 15 inches of heavy wet snow outside, the idea of going into the Park and off the trail (Which is used enough that the snow is compacted) was a bit daunting. Â However, cabin fever can be problematic, and it was worth a go to at least try to do something.
Properly dressed with insulated work gloves, a ratty old coat that can take a beating, work commenced here:
Morris Park, near the terminus of Morris Park Road
Not  a bad spot to spend the afternoon in.  Looking down, however is the work:
The trees are bent down under the weight-'before' picture
Here is  Spicebush and an unidentified tree about ready to break.  This is a combination of  vines and snow. Having just sharpened  the pruners with a file and a knife sharpener and with a drop of oil for smooth operation, the work began, cutting off the vines that were strangling these two trees.  The vines were Grape (Vitis spp.) Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), Oriental Bittersweet, (Celastrus orbiculatus) and Multiflora Rose (Rosa Multiflora).  In just a few minutes time it looked like this:
After removing the vines, the trees sprung back up :'after' picture
Then there was this one Spicebush buried in the snow. While it took an hour to dig out the car , this Spicebush was dug out of the snow and liberated in ten minutes:
The Spicebush, in lower part of the picture, buried in the snow
This, above, is the “before” picture.
The liberated Spicebush The "after" picture
This is the “after” picture. (date incorrect) Â The Spicebush just rose up from the snow and ice as the vines were cut away. It was very satisfying to watch the shrub spring back up to a vineless, healthy future.
This area, next to the Spicebushes rescued today, awaits restoration
Hopefully tomorrow, there will be time to address this urgent matter.
