Snowfall at the Arboretum!

As we receive our first significant snowfall of the season, the beauty of the Arboretum’s winter landscape shines. With little wind, today’s gently falling snow seems to outline every branch, twig and nuance. During our winter months, the intrepid visitors to the Arboretum will find lots of opportunities to study the architecture and structure of our plant collections. Hikers, skiers, snowshoers and walkers will be rewarded with spectacular views of our winter landscapes -- along with plenty of opportunities to discover how plants and animals adapt to the cold. What a remarkable place and time to learn more about our winter world!

Encouraged to take a snowy walk at the Arboretum or through your own neighborhood? Stop by the Sterling Morton Library and peruse some of these resources to guide your winter quest:

• Bark : the formation, characteristics, and uses of bark around the world photographs by Kjell B. Sandved ; text by Ghillean Tolmie
• A guide to wildflowers in winter : herbaceous plants of northeastern North America by Carol Levine
• Life in the cold : an introduction to winter ecology by Peter Marchand
• Season of promise : wild plants in winter by June Carver Roberts
• Studies of trees in winter : a description of the deciduous trees of northeastern America by Annie Oakes Huntington ; with an introduction by Charles Sprague Sargent
• Tree bark : a color guide by Hugues Vaucher
• Trees in a winter landscape by Alice Upham Smith
• Trees in winter : their study and identification by Albert Francis Blakeslee and Chester Deacon Jarvis
• Weeds in winter written and illustrated by Lauren Brown
• Winter : an ecological handbook by James C. Halfpenny, Roy Douglas Ozanne
• Winter world : the ingenuity of animal survival by Bernd Heinrich

The Sterling Morton Library is open Tuesday through Friday from 9-5 and Saturday from 10-4.

Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor …

As I was entering the Arboretum’s grounds this Saturday morning, I was musing about that famous motto - Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor ... - and was delighted with all of the intrepid walkers, runners, hikers, and bikers visible near the Arboretum’s Visitor Center. There are so many different ways to visit and enjoy our winter landscapes. What a wonderful time of year to travel through the grounds and discover a host of interesting plants, views, birds and tracks. Before you head out for a visit to our winter landscapes, be sure to take one of these guides from the Sterling Morton Library to help you decipher the plants and mysterious tracks that you might see!

• Arnosky, Jim. Crinkleroot’s book of animal tracking. New York : Bradbury Press, 1989. [J QL768.A75 1989]
• Brown, Lauren. Weeds in winter. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1976. [QK118.B7 1977]
• Halfpenny, James C. Winter : an ecological handbook. Boulder : Johnson Books, 1989. [QH81.H35]
• Heinrich, Bernd. Winter world : the ingenuity of animal survival. New York : Ecco, c2003.[QL753.H45]
• Levine, Carol. A guide to wildflowers in winter. New Haven : Yale University Press, 1995. [QK117.L48]
• Marchand, Peter J. Life in the cold : an introduction to winter ecology. 2nd ed. Hanover : University Press of New England, 1991. [QH543.2.M37 1991]
• Mason, George F. Animals tracks. New York : William Morrow, 1943. [SK282.M3]
• Murie, Olaus J. A field guide to animal tracks. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1963. [SK282.M8]
• Simeone, Vincent A. Wonders of the winter landscape : shrubs and trees to brighten the cold-weather garden. Batavia, Ill. : Ball Pub., c2005.[SB435.S48]
• Smith, Alice Upham. Trees in a winter landscape. New York : Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969. [QK477.S64]
• Trelease, William. Winter botany : an identification guide to native trees and shrubs. 3rd ed. New York : Dover, 1967. [QK477.T84 1967]

The Sterling Morton Library is open Tuesday – Friday from 9 to 5 and Saturday from 10 to 4. Visit soon!

A dusting of snow!

We recently received our first significant snowfall at the Morton Arboretum. On a recent lunchtime walk through the collections, I was reminded of the singular beauty of this season. Tree architecture and structure often take center stage for intrepid hikers at this time of the year. Consider the sharp contrast between the snow covered ground, the tree’s bark pattern, form, habit and branch outline -- all set against the backdrop of a sapphire blue sky. In addition to trees, shrubs and vines, you'll discover that wildflowers and weeds encrusted with frost and snow also have a simple beauty.

Encouraged to take a winter walk at the Arboretum or through your very own neighborhood? Stop by the Sterling Morton Library and peruse some of these resources:

• Tree bark : a color guide by Hugues Vaucher
• Bark by Catherine Chambers
• Bark : the formation, characteristics, and uses of bark around the world photographs by Kjell B. Sandved ; text by Ghillean Tolmie
• Trees in a winter landscape by Alice Upham Smith
• Trees in winter : their study and identification by Albert Francis Blakeslee and Chester Deacon Jarvis
• Studies of trees in winter : a description of the deciduous trees of northeastern America by Annie Oakes Huntington ; with an introduction by Charles Sprague Sargent
• A guide to wildflowers in winter by Carol Levine
• Winter : an ecological handbook by James C. Halfpenny, Roy Douglas Ozanne
• Weeds in winter written and illustrated by Lauren Brown

Winter Beauty

“At no other time of the year are tree forms more conspicuous. Against the whiteness of snow and the intensity of a blue winter sky, the bold patterns of sturdy trunk and intricate branch stand out most vividly, revealing characters of wide diversity. The graceful vase shaped American Elm, the rugged sturdiness of the Oaks, the flat-topped Thorns, the pyramidal spires of Poplars, and the Sugar Maple’s symmetrically rounded domes are but a few of the most familiar forms.”

I’m just in from a walk through the Arboretum’s east side and read this evocative description of winter on the grounds. Are you wondering if you missed this article in a recent issue of Seasons? Actually, this paragraph is part of a larger article written by E. Lowell Kammerer. The reference to the “graceful vase shaped American Elm” could be your first hint of this article's age. The article was actually published in February 1936 in the Bulletin of Popular Information (an early Arboretum publication) and prior to the dramatic loss of American elms in our community. The Sterling Morton Library has a complete set of all publications of The Morton Arboretum including:

• Bulletin of Popular Information
• The Morton Arboretum Quarterly
• Branches
• Events, News and Classes
• Seasons
• Annual Reports
• Other assorted publications
  

A trusty Library volunteer has been diligently indexing our publications to assist us in locating pertinent articles. I encourage you to stop by the Sterling Morton Library and explore our early Arboretum history and writings. Then, take a walk among the trees and revel in the winter beauty!

Lowell’s complete article published in 1936 can be found here.