Winter Interest

January 12, 2009: Member Lynne Church presented an informative program on Trees and Shrubs with Winter Interest. After a career as an energy attorney and energy executive, Church pursued a degree in landscape design and now operates Lynne Church Landscape Design.

She divided winter horticulture into berries, peeling or mottled bark, unusual forms, colorful foliage and early flowers. [Almost all the photos in the following slideshow were taken by Lynne Church of specimens on Capitol Hill. If you put your cursor over the lefthand bottom of the slideshow and click on the square dialog box, you can see the caption of each photo OR, if you click on a slideshow photo, you can view all of Lynne's photos and captions in the Picasa Web Album.]

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Margaret Missiaen gave a short talk on transplanting small trees and shrubs. She advised taking a spade and cutting the roots 6 to 10 inches from the trunk to create a root ball, then leaving the rootball in place to encourage new root growth before moving the rootball to a new planting location. For most small trees she suggesting beginning in September and leaving the root ball in place until after a month or so of growth in the spring. For shrubs she advised preparing the rootball shortly after bloom but still allowing time for new root growth before relocating the plant. Missiaen warned that crepe myrtle should be transplanted early in the summer as they needed to be established in the new location in time to winter over.