Happy Halloween!

Pawpaws

The pawpaw tree is a small native tree that produces the largest fruit of any that is native to North America. It is now very rare in the wild here in New Jersey, but it is such a valuable plant that we should have more of it.

About twenty years ago my husband ordered four seedling pawpaw trees from a garden catalog and planted them near the edge of our woods. Only two of them survived (turns out that's typical), but they are now mature and they bear fruit every fall. I like the fruit so much that I plant more little pawpaw trees every year (first photo).

The fruit is the most obvious great feature of the pawpaw tree (second photo). Pawpaw fruit was a favorite of the Native Americans. It is approximately fist-sized, but full of large seeds, so we eat it with a spoon. It is sweet and custardy, with a flavor similar to banana and mango. There are some recipes using pawpaws, but I haven't tried any. On the internet it is possible to order pawpaw jam and some other products, and sometimes a farmer's market or specialty store in this area will sell the fresh fruit for a few weeks in the fall.

Some other valuable aspects of pawpaw trees are that they grow in shade or partial shade, though they will grow faster with a bit more sun. They grow well next to black walnut trees. They like moist or average soil, not dry or swampy. And they are gloriously deer-proof, after the first season. All you have to do is protect the trunks against buck rubbing.

If you are worried about global warming, pawpaw trees are native all the way to northern Florida, so climate change holds no dangers for them. They are attractive trees, with dark red flowers in spring and leaves up to a foot long that turn yellow in fall (third photo). Pawpaw trees average about 25 feet tall and have a pyramidal shape.

Pawpaw trees are host plant to the caterpillar of the beautiful zebra swallowtail butterfly. That butterfly is not often found in New Jersey, but maybe if we plant enough pawpaw trees its numbers will increase.

The pawpaw tree has some challenges for its owners, though. You need two trees that are not clones to produce fruit. The trees send up root sprouts, a mixed blessing that may be controlled by mowing, though we intend to keep every one of ours. We have six small trees from root sprouts so far, the largest of which flowered for the first time this year. The pawpaw tree has a long, fragile taproot, so they should ideally be planted as small seedlings, container-grown. If you want pawpaw trees, try to find a nursery that offers seedlings grown from seeds from pawpaws native to New Jersey.

The last pawpaw fell off our tree a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, we missed it; the fruits are delicious, and we are always competing with the animals to see who gets them first!

Work session postponed

Due to predicted rain and cold weather, the work session Saturday, October 17 for the stream bank restoration at the Village Elementary School, described in my previous post, is canceled. The rain date is also canceled. The work is being rescheduled for Saturday, October 24, at 10:00 am, rain date Sunday, October 25 at 1:00 pm. I hope to see you there.

Volunteer opportunity

On September 19th I wrote about Alyssa Gartenberg, a Girl Scout who has undertaken the restoration of the stream corridor at the Village Elementary School in Skillman Village for her Gold Award Project. After a lot of hard work, she is ready to plant on Saturday, and she needs volunteers. If you would like to help a Girl Scout or help the Village Elementary School or do something for the environment, this is your chance! The work party is scheduled for this Saturday, October 17, at 10:00 am, with a rain date of Sunday, October 18 at 1:00 pm. Meet in front of the Village Elementary School, dress in old clothes, bring work gloves, trowels and shovels, a water bottle in case you get thirsty, and be prepared to plant! If the event is canceled due to rain I will post that as soon as I find out.

Solar power

Recently I attended the groundbreaking ceremony for a new solar array. A non-profit institution, concerned about its energy costs and interested in sustainability, is building a 12-acre, 1.6-megawatt ground-mounted facility. The panels are manufactured in Ohio, creating many local green tech jobs.

Once completed, the solar facility will supply half of their electrical needs. On the ground below the panels, slow-growing grass, which can grow in part shade and part sun, will be planted. Since the panels are tilted and have small gaps between them, rainwater will trickle through to water the grass and soak into the ground. Even on a cloudy day, the panels can generate electricity.

This project is being built and paid for by a company that invests in solar power, which then sells it back to the owner of the site at a small discount. The builder takes advantage of government rebates and tax breaks, and also invests their own capital. They do not focus on small projects, but you can take advantage of some of the same government incentives to install solar panels on your own property. Many homes have roofs that are suitable for solar panels, and others can install free-standing solar panels (though this may require municipal approval as a structure--check with your local government planning office). If you install solar panels, you will pay less for electricity, reduce pollution, reduce global climate change, and contribute to America's energy independence.

Several homeowners in Montgomery have solar panels on their roofs, and the Montgomery Board of Education has a solar array. In fact, New Jersey has more solar power than any other state except California, which is amazing when we consider how many states are farther south or have less rain than New Jersey. Our outstanding solar statistics may be partly due to environmentally aware residents, but they are also due to state policy, the decision to offer rebates and tax breaks for installing solar panels. For both reasons, I am proud of New Jersey!

White oaks

Last weekend I went to a dance camp in New York state. I danced English country dances that date back as far as 1695, and some written in the 21st century. I also danced some New England contra dances for the first time in five years. I had a wonderful time (see photo by Michael Zumoff)!

The camp is located in the area of Newburgh, New York, a two-and-a-half hour drive north of Montgomery, on the shore of a small lake (see photo). Beautiful old white oak trees (trees native from Canada to Florida and Maine to Texas) dot the lawns where the land slopes down to the lake. The ground was littered with their acorns, and I started gathering them to bring home. To my surprise, many were already germinating, sending out roots (see photo). My husband and I have some white oak trees growing in the woods at the back of our property, but I have never seen their acorns (I think the squirrels get them first), and white oak seedlings there are few and far between.

Oak trees are very important to our ecosystem here in central New Jersey. Oak is a climax forest species. Every land-based plant community here in our area constantly changes and evolves until it becomes a climax forest, which is self-perpetuating. This process is called succession. We've all seen cedar trees coming up in fields. They are a "pioneer species." Cedar trees won't grow up in the shade, so some other trees take over once the cedars grow tall and thick. Eventually, oak and hickory trees dominate the forest, and that's a climax forest. Oak trees produce acorns which are eaten by a wide variety of wildlife. They produce thick, leathery leaves full of tanin, which decompose slowly, protecting the forest floor from erosion. And oak trees support more moths and butterflies than any other type of tree.

Oak trees are divided into white oak trees, which have rounded tips on their leaves, and red oaks, which have pointed leaves with bristle tips. White and red oak are also names of two individual species of trees. The acorns I found were from the white oak tree, Quercus alba, which is one of many oak trees with rounded leaves (see photo). Unfortunately, a disease known as bacterial leaf scorch (BLS) is slowly killing red oaks (but not white oaks). Because I would like to have more trees growing on my property that are resistant to this devastating disease, I collected almost two hundred of the white oak acorns and brought them home. They are in ziplock bags with moist paper towels in my refrigerator. Now I have to plant them before their little roots die, and find a way to protect them from squirrels. If our area loses its red oak trees to BLS, we will all need more white oak trees .