North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Road's End Farm <organic87@frontiernet.net>]

On Feb 2, 2010, at 9:09 AM, Kathryn Mathews wrote:

> There are a number of mature ironwood trees on a college campus near  
> my
> home.  I consider them very beautiful.  They are said to be very slow
> growing.
> Kathryn Mathews
> Northfield, MInnesota
>
> -----Original Message-----
> On Behalf Of Douglas Woodard
> Sent: 01/31/2010 9:52 PM
> To: North American Fruit Explorers
> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Ornamental trees
>
> Ironwood/hop-hornbeam, Ostrya virginiana, is a small tree growing to  
> about
> 40 feet reputed moderately ornamental (I've only seen it growing in  
> the
> woods as an understory tree).


I've seen it as an understory tree (I'm pretty sure I'm thinking of  
the same tree, my identification skills are sadly lacking), and also  
find it beautiful; I'm not sure how long lived it is, as in the  
woodlot I rarely see large ones, and do sometimes find dead ones that  
were not very large. Maybe they survive longer in the open, or maybe  
the soil in my woodlot isn't actually very hospitable to them (much of  
the woodlot is intermittently wet).

The dead ones make fantastic firewood.


-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale