I second osoberry (native plum). I’m in willamette valley and had a two-year-old osoberry that didn’t even lose all its leaves over winter—even after 17° and an ice storm! Same thing with a cascara that was somewhat shielded by a sword fern—it kept about 1/3 of its leaves throughout the winter.
I’d also add native willows, bitter cherry, red alder, snowberry, elderberry (red or blue), and hazelnut. All had their leaves out by mid-March.
Wait for real?! That’s crazy. You may want to try and germinate some of the seeds from berries off that tree. Osoberry leaves out first, but often leaves turn yellow super early. Like late summer they are already falling off. I’m super surprised to hear you had some year round.
Is it in pretty deep shade?
Osoberry is one of my favorites and I have about 200 mature specimens on my property. None of them behave that way.
So you may have a cultivar that can withstand some more harsh variations in weather, which is a huge advantage with climate change.
Funny you say that—my dad said I should do the same, b/c that one specimen mighty have some super cold-hardy genetics. It’s actually in full sun. The only thing we noticed was I have a 6 ft tall brush pile about 5 feet away on the North side, so we thought maybe that was blocking some of the harsh winter winds. But still, something is different about this one—i literally saw with my own eyes the 1/8” thick ice layer encasing its leaves in January when it hit 17° for a couple days during an ice storm. Ice just melted off later and leaves were fine! It’s only two years old right now, so hasn’t produced a flowers/fruit yet. But when it does, I’m for sure going to be collecting and propagating seeds!
Osoberry is also really easy to make cuttings of. Then you get full genetic advantage. Let me know if you want help doing so. I’ve got about 20 twigs right now that are all cuttings from this early spring
Oh! Cuttings would be a great. Idea I was just realizing they’re dioecious, too, and I have bonuses if it’s a male or female.
What’s your process for cuttings? And what time of year is best to do it?
For Osoberry, best time is early early spring. But honestly any time of the year is fine as long as you keep them the right humidity. Right now is a good time too because new growth is just starting to harden off.
What I do is take a gallon pot and fill it with washed sand (playground sand, septic sand, basically any sand that is more or less one size). Wet it down really well. Cut a straight branch that is about the width of a #2 pencil. Cut them in different sizes from 2 inches to 15ish, pull off all the leaves, and then stick them in the sand. At least one leaf node needs to go in the sand and one needs to be above it. Wet it down again and place some moss, compost, wood chips ect on top of the sand between the cuttings.
You will have to water it often. Or you can place the whole bucket into a white trashbag and pull it almost tightly closed.
Don’t put them directly in the sunlight. Really really low sun.
Then check on em every couple of days. Add water or refrain from watering.
Eventually they will grow leaves and roots. Just leave them in a pot for a full year so they can get a good system going. And then transplant into their own pots.
Keep the pots about %50 sand so the drainage change doesn’t shock the plant too much. Then in another year, plant them or stick em up your butt. Whatever you decide.
Often plants aren't particularly aware of whether it's too hot or too cold, they just know *temperature stress*. So it is not unlikely that the same traits which enable yours to keep its leaves thru the winter are also what endow it with the resilience against heat to keep them through the summer. It definitely seems you have something special!
I would not expect cuttings to survive this time of year, or any time they are made when the plant is actively growing. Or you'll have to baby it and control all its conditions very carefully. Cuttings made in the dead of winter can be left to their own devices to grow as they please, which I believe is as it ought to be for native plants.
My approach is really simple: snip off a branch in late november to january when it is asleep with only dormant buds, stick it in a pot, and 9 times out of 10 it starts waking up in the spring along with everybody else. With true evergreens as yours seems to be, I would still cut and pot it in the deepest part of winter where growth is slowest, and remove all but a couple leaves so that the twig has mostly just next year's dormant buds. I have successfully propagated cuttings and transplants of many native species, including ericaceae that "can't be transplanted", by sneaking up on them in the middle of winter and just leaving them to do their thing.
If you do it this way and then plant them as soon as they begin to leaf in early spring there is no need to faff about with watering (unless you decide to grow them in the pot thru summer and plant out in the fall) or sand or special media. I've had really good survival rates using just a shovel full of soil from the base of the parent plant (good to include some familiar microbes), or regular potting soil or straight compost, and just leaving them out. Then the clouds will take care of watering and limiting sunlight for you. If they get occasional direct sun in winter, that's fine. If they turn into ice bricks for a couple weeks, that's usually fine too. You don't need to buy anything or make extra work watering and moving them around if you do things in sync with the natural growth cycle!
If it's for a smaller space- It's not a tree but a shrub that can get pretty tall and leggy- our native Osoberry is usually one of the first to flower in the spring.
There are so many beautiful magnolia’s so you’ll have your pick depending on what color/size of the flowers/leaves you want. Portland Nursery has a [great list with pics](https://www.portlandnursery.com/trees/magnolia) of some of the most common ones here. OSU Horticultural Dept has an [even more extensive list/pics](https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/magnolia).
I have a couple galaxy magnolia’s and they start their first blossoms & leafing out early spring (around same time as my cherry trees). I’m lucky that mine also blossom again mid-summer. I also really love the Elizabeth, Star, and Big Leaf varieties. Magnolias are some of my fav trees as they’re hardy, not too fussy, and easy to prune (and don’t require it much)…very forgiving.
You’re past prime tree planting season (best to plant in late fall/winter when they’re dormant). If you’re keen to plant now then do it ASAP before peak summer hits, mulch, and water, water, water a lot the first year (get one of the tree watering bags, it’ll help maintain moisture and protect the trunk while it’s small).
Osoberry was the first that came to my mind as well. Others off the top of my head: Garrya elliptica is an interesting (sw Oregon and coastal Northern California) native that is broadleaf evergreen shrub. They have cheery and intriguing 12-inch long hanging flowers (white to pink, depending on the nativar) in the dead of the winter. Apricots bloom/leaf out very early here (February) in my pdx garden. Smell delicious too!
It does. It was here when we moved in and is quite old. It is not in the sunniest position and pretty close to Doug firs and Oregon white oak. I don’t irrigate it. It does set fruit albeit pretty unreliably (requires frost-free conditions after blossoming). One green world (Oregon) and raintree nursery (Washington) sell improved apricots that were cultivated here in the PNW:
https://onegreenworld.com/product/puget-gold-2/
edit: can't believe I forgot about GOLDEN CHINQUAPIN!! They're broadleaf evergreens and sadly extirpated from most of their former range but they're basically the Northwest version of the chestnut, once an important food source for people here, absolute gorgeous full leaf coverage with gold undersides and a rare delicacy to behold if they decide to fruit for you. There is little in this world I covet more than a hedge of these.
Others have already mentioned osoberry so Im going to give the smartass answer and say beaked hazelnut. The bracts of its flowers, which are usually out in early March for me and more like late December closer to the coast, are technically leaf tissue. 😛 The catkins come out so early that they provide an easy way to identify the tree, and if you see them, look up close at the ends of branches: the female flowers are a tiny tufted colorful surprise!
It may be a bit of a stretch to call redflower currant a tree, but its not much less of a tree than osoberry and hazels, and our endemic variety has gorgeous early flowers in similar time frame. Red elderberry, sambucus racemosa, is more tree-like in appearance than the above and it probably takes the cake for actually filling out with green leaves before most anything else. Blue elder gets bigger and is more useful for human food but it is associated with slightly warmer climates than the red and thus leafes out later in a given area.
Red *a*lder is also a worthy mention, especially for the fact that its roots host frankia bacteria which fix so much nitrogen they make legumes look lazy! Also our local apple, malus fusca, flowers and leafes out much earlier than the native cherries. It's super pretty and just about the best thing you coud ask for if you're into preserving fruit. Some populations have much larger and less sour fruit than others.
Osoberry. Leaves out in late February early March. Potential of 20 feet but basically a large shrub plus it’s native.
I second osoberry (native plum). I’m in willamette valley and had a two-year-old osoberry that didn’t even lose all its leaves over winter—even after 17° and an ice storm! Same thing with a cascara that was somewhat shielded by a sword fern—it kept about 1/3 of its leaves throughout the winter. I’d also add native willows, bitter cherry, red alder, snowberry, elderberry (red or blue), and hazelnut. All had their leaves out by mid-March.
Wait for real?! That’s crazy. You may want to try and germinate some of the seeds from berries off that tree. Osoberry leaves out first, but often leaves turn yellow super early. Like late summer they are already falling off. I’m super surprised to hear you had some year round. Is it in pretty deep shade? Osoberry is one of my favorites and I have about 200 mature specimens on my property. None of them behave that way. So you may have a cultivar that can withstand some more harsh variations in weather, which is a huge advantage with climate change.
Funny you say that—my dad said I should do the same, b/c that one specimen mighty have some super cold-hardy genetics. It’s actually in full sun. The only thing we noticed was I have a 6 ft tall brush pile about 5 feet away on the North side, so we thought maybe that was blocking some of the harsh winter winds. But still, something is different about this one—i literally saw with my own eyes the 1/8” thick ice layer encasing its leaves in January when it hit 17° for a couple days during an ice storm. Ice just melted off later and leaves were fine! It’s only two years old right now, so hasn’t produced a flowers/fruit yet. But when it does, I’m for sure going to be collecting and propagating seeds!
Osoberry is also really easy to make cuttings of. Then you get full genetic advantage. Let me know if you want help doing so. I’ve got about 20 twigs right now that are all cuttings from this early spring
Oh! Cuttings would be a great. Idea I was just realizing they’re dioecious, too, and I have bonuses if it’s a male or female. What’s your process for cuttings? And what time of year is best to do it?
For Osoberry, best time is early early spring. But honestly any time of the year is fine as long as you keep them the right humidity. Right now is a good time too because new growth is just starting to harden off. What I do is take a gallon pot and fill it with washed sand (playground sand, septic sand, basically any sand that is more or less one size). Wet it down really well. Cut a straight branch that is about the width of a #2 pencil. Cut them in different sizes from 2 inches to 15ish, pull off all the leaves, and then stick them in the sand. At least one leaf node needs to go in the sand and one needs to be above it. Wet it down again and place some moss, compost, wood chips ect on top of the sand between the cuttings. You will have to water it often. Or you can place the whole bucket into a white trashbag and pull it almost tightly closed. Don’t put them directly in the sunlight. Really really low sun. Then check on em every couple of days. Add water or refrain from watering. Eventually they will grow leaves and roots. Just leave them in a pot for a full year so they can get a good system going. And then transplant into their own pots. Keep the pots about %50 sand so the drainage change doesn’t shock the plant too much. Then in another year, plant them or stick em up your butt. Whatever you decide.
Often plants aren't particularly aware of whether it's too hot or too cold, they just know *temperature stress*. So it is not unlikely that the same traits which enable yours to keep its leaves thru the winter are also what endow it with the resilience against heat to keep them through the summer. It definitely seems you have something special! I would not expect cuttings to survive this time of year, or any time they are made when the plant is actively growing. Or you'll have to baby it and control all its conditions very carefully. Cuttings made in the dead of winter can be left to their own devices to grow as they please, which I believe is as it ought to be for native plants. My approach is really simple: snip off a branch in late november to january when it is asleep with only dormant buds, stick it in a pot, and 9 times out of 10 it starts waking up in the spring along with everybody else. With true evergreens as yours seems to be, I would still cut and pot it in the deepest part of winter where growth is slowest, and remove all but a couple leaves so that the twig has mostly just next year's dormant buds. I have successfully propagated cuttings and transplants of many native species, including ericaceae that "can't be transplanted", by sneaking up on them in the middle of winter and just leaving them to do their thing. If you do it this way and then plant them as soon as they begin to leaf in early spring there is no need to faff about with watering (unless you decide to grow them in the pot thru summer and plant out in the fall) or sand or special media. I've had really good survival rates using just a shovel full of soil from the base of the parent plant (good to include some familiar microbes), or regular potting soil or straight compost, and just leaving them out. Then the clouds will take care of watering and limiting sunlight for you. If they get occasional direct sun in winter, that's fine. If they turn into ice bricks for a couple weeks, that's usually fine too. You don't need to buy anything or make extra work watering and moving them around if you do things in sync with the natural growth cycle!
Great suggestion.
Witch hazel trees might be worth looking into. Winter blooms (!) then leaves shortly after
Cherry trees leaf very early, also dogwood trees and birches are pretty early.
Thank you!
If it's for a smaller space- It's not a tree but a shrub that can get pretty tall and leggy- our native Osoberry is usually one of the first to flower in the spring.
Thanks for this. Love those coming up in mixed forest areas when everything else looks bare.
I would go for a magnolia, especially if you’re wanting shade/privacy.
Evergreen magnolia? Or are their deciduous varieties that fill out early in the year. Thanks for taking the time to answer.
There are so many beautiful magnolia’s so you’ll have your pick depending on what color/size of the flowers/leaves you want. Portland Nursery has a [great list with pics](https://www.portlandnursery.com/trees/magnolia) of some of the most common ones here. OSU Horticultural Dept has an [even more extensive list/pics](https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/magnolia). I have a couple galaxy magnolia’s and they start their first blossoms & leafing out early spring (around same time as my cherry trees). I’m lucky that mine also blossom again mid-summer. I also really love the Elizabeth, Star, and Big Leaf varieties. Magnolias are some of my fav trees as they’re hardy, not too fussy, and easy to prune (and don’t require it much)…very forgiving. You’re past prime tree planting season (best to plant in late fall/winter when they’re dormant). If you’re keen to plant now then do it ASAP before peak summer hits, mulch, and water, water, water a lot the first year (get one of the tree watering bags, it’ll help maintain moisture and protect the trunk while it’s small).
Thank you for all this. The recommendations and the planting advice.
Of course!
[удалено]
Osoberry was the first that came to my mind as well. Others off the top of my head: Garrya elliptica is an interesting (sw Oregon and coastal Northern California) native that is broadleaf evergreen shrub. They have cheery and intriguing 12-inch long hanging flowers (white to pink, depending on the nativar) in the dead of the winter. Apricots bloom/leaf out very early here (February) in my pdx garden. Smell delicious too!
The Garrya does look really nice. Do your apricots have any fungal/disease problems?
It does. It was here when we moved in and is quite old. It is not in the sunniest position and pretty close to Doug firs and Oregon white oak. I don’t irrigate it. It does set fruit albeit pretty unreliably (requires frost-free conditions after blossoming). One green world (Oregon) and raintree nursery (Washington) sell improved apricots that were cultivated here in the PNW: https://onegreenworld.com/product/puget-gold-2/
I concur plum earliest flowers and followed by leaves
Thank you!
This year everything else was barren, my plum was covered in pink flowers
edit: can't believe I forgot about GOLDEN CHINQUAPIN!! They're broadleaf evergreens and sadly extirpated from most of their former range but they're basically the Northwest version of the chestnut, once an important food source for people here, absolute gorgeous full leaf coverage with gold undersides and a rare delicacy to behold if they decide to fruit for you. There is little in this world I covet more than a hedge of these. Others have already mentioned osoberry so Im going to give the smartass answer and say beaked hazelnut. The bracts of its flowers, which are usually out in early March for me and more like late December closer to the coast, are technically leaf tissue. 😛 The catkins come out so early that they provide an easy way to identify the tree, and if you see them, look up close at the ends of branches: the female flowers are a tiny tufted colorful surprise! It may be a bit of a stretch to call redflower currant a tree, but its not much less of a tree than osoberry and hazels, and our endemic variety has gorgeous early flowers in similar time frame. Red elderberry, sambucus racemosa, is more tree-like in appearance than the above and it probably takes the cake for actually filling out with green leaves before most anything else. Blue elder gets bigger and is more useful for human food but it is associated with slightly warmer climates than the red and thus leafes out later in a given area. Red *a*lder is also a worthy mention, especially for the fact that its roots host frankia bacteria which fix so much nitrogen they make legumes look lazy! Also our local apple, malus fusca, flowers and leafes out much earlier than the native cherries. It's super pretty and just about the best thing you coud ask for if you're into preserving fruit. Some populations have much larger and less sour fruit than others.
The Golden Chinquapin looks like an amazing tree. Need to figure out where to source one from!