Tree Utah - Home

The "Anti-Social" Honey Locust Tree

2020-09-23T01:56:01+00:00

If you come across a tree with an arrangement of sharp thorns along its bark don’t be afraid, you've just met the highly adaptive Gleditsia triacanthos, otherwise known as the honey locust. The honey locust is an attractive and useful tree that is commonly planted as a landscape tree for its beauty and toughness. It is a deciduous tree in the legume family, native to central North America where it is mostly found in rich moist soil of river valleys. Its leaves are delicate and narrow, arranged in an alternating compound form that allows more light to reach the ground and can permit other trees or plants to flourish underneath its canopy.

In the fall the leaves can turn to a vibrant golden yellow. A fast grower the honey locust commonly reaches heights of around 70 to 100 feet with a medium-long life of 120 years. Often honeylocust trees planted in cities are thornless and often seedless and transplants easily even in less than ideal soil including; compacted, road salt, alkaline soil, heat, or drought-affected. The long slender pods you see are 15 to 40 cm long with sticky and sweet bean-like seeds.

You may think the name means this tree produces some type of sap but the honey locust is not a significant sap plant, rather, the sweetness is found in the legume pulp, which was used for food and medicine, and tea by Native American people. Additionally, the seeds can be used as a coffee substitute and can even be fermented. And fun fact: In the past, the hard thorns of the younger trees were used as nails and the wood itself was used to fashion treenails for shipbuilding.

The honey locust is easy to grow and requires very little maintenance. So easy in fact, you could try growing one as a quick and fun learning project with kids or as your own project!

The Power of the Singleleaf Ash

2020-07-15T14:28:13+00:00

What North American Ash has the power to thrive in high elevations, dry and rocky canyons and has simple, not compound, leaf? If you've been out exploring in the Utah wild you've seen these super Ash trees called the Singleleaf Ash!

Singleleaf Ash is native to the southwestern United States, where it grows in a number of habitats. It is unusual in the genus in that some (though not all) specimens have simple leaves instead of the pinnate compound leaves more characteristic of the group. be sure to take a closer look. This may be an adaptation for survival in the hot, arid environments in which the single-leaf ash lives: unsplit leaves reduce the surface area through which water is lost by a process called transpiration. It is also sometime called a dwarf or shrub ash. The leaves are almost always whole, not split into divisions. Each set of arrows in the second photograph at left points to the rarely occurring tri-foliate leaves, i.e., each leaf is divided into three leaflets.

It's name history is interesting too. Linnaeus named this genus in 1753: "Fraxinus" is the ancient Latin name given to Ash trees. Fraxinus anomala was collected by Newberry and Palmer independently in Utah in the late 1850s and was named by John Torrey in 1871.

If you are interested in planting this ash you can learn more online. Prune regularly to promote health, provide air circulation, maintain a desirable shape, and to remove dead or damaged branches. Pruning is best done in late-winter to early spring for most trees and late-spring for spring blooming trees. Choose species that are resistant to pest damage. Monitor the tree for pests, diseases or other ailments on a regular basis. Protect the trunk especially where maintenance activities, such as mowing, may cause damage. Newly planted trees in areas with high exposure should have the trunk protected during the winter. Although Fraxinus anomala most often grows with a vertical posture, it is common to find it sprawling in an intricate shrub pattern. Fall colors are a bright golden yellow.

TreeUtah EcoGarden, Permaculture In Action

2020-08-12T14:57:05+00:00

It’s a beautiful sunny day and you are standing in an EcoGarden, a permaculture demonstration space, situated on the grounds of the Day-Riverside Library, in the Rose Park neighborhood of Salt Lake City. It fills the space between the library itself and the Jordan River, providing an inviting link between the building and the riverside trails that connect with the surrounding community. As you are surrounded by the plants and trees it is obvious this is a special community space but how did it all start and what does it mean for a community?

This ever-evolving EcoGarden was first laid out in 2005, under the direction of renowned permaculture expert and author, the late Toby Hemenway and former TreeUtah director Vaughn Lovejoy. Since then it has been sustained by dedicated volunteers, neighbors and TreeUtah staff. The land the garden sits on was originally intended as an overflow retention basin for the Jordan River. When TreeUtah decided to do an EcoGarden, they considered putting it at Bend in the River Park along the Provo-Jordan River Parkway Trail. However, the land was too toxic with mercury and lead to grow anything edible. The plot by the Day-Riverside library seemed to be the perfect solution.

The guiding principle of permaculture is to cultivate food, medicine, and other useful plants in harmony with and in imitation of the surrounding ecosystem. Traditional farming techniques prioritize annual plants and require a continual input of nutrients, pesticides, and new plants, permaculture relies on a thoughtful mix perennials to create a more closed self-regulating and sustainable system.

The garden is designed around fourteen guilds or smaller plant communities. These are each centered around a fruit or nut tree. Each tree is planted with a specific mix of shrubs, flowers, grasses, herbs, and native plants that complement one another through their unique characteristics. Some plants might fix nitrogen in the soil, making it available to the surrounding plants. While others perhaps attract pollinators that will benefit the entire group. A third species may discourage pests or invasive plants with the scent of its flowers or the oils in its leaves.

Additionally, the guilds are designed to maximize water retention, by slowing evaporation and runoff called Swales. Swales are ditches dug along the contour of the land, so as water runs downward, it is caught on the formation, and moisture is more effectively contained. Many of the plants are also drought-resistant, meaning the garden can survive (and even thrive) with minimal watering and even go long periods without any surface water at all. The irrigation that is in place is a drip system that delivers water directly to the plants root systems.

Finally, and most importantly, the EcoGarden is a community gathering space. The area is not fenced off from the neighborhood. Rather it is an inviting space, with benches, picnic tables, and a shade structure grown over with grapevines. We encourage residents of the neighborhood to utilize the space for gatherings, quiet contemplation, and of course as a source of food.

The library brings children into the garden for storytime. Nearby elementary schools bring students for outdoor lunches. Garden maintenance and upkeep is done by volunteers. TreeUtah holds regular workshops on topics ranging from tree pruning, to mason bees, to uses of medicinal herbs. A healthy ecosystem necessarily includes the people who live in it, join us in our work in creating sustainable communities. Contact volunteer@treeutah.org