Beauties of Winter Trees

     Trees here in the Middle Atlantic States, as elsewhere, are attractive the year around, including in winter.  During that harshest of seasons, coniferous and deciduous trees add much beauty to the landscape, including having majestic, silhouetted shapes during sunrises and sunsets.
     Many coniferous species, particularly spruces and firs, have stately, pyramidal shapes that are attractive, one of the reasons why these conifers are commonly planted on lawns.  And almost all conifers bear handsome beige, scaled cones of various sizes and shapes, depending on the species.  Norway spruces and white pines have long cones, while those on eastern hemlocks and red spruces are shorter.  Squirrels and a variety of small birds eat the seeds from those cones after the scales on them open. 
     The bark on several kinds of deciduous trees here is attractive, and most easily seen in winter.  American beeches have smooth, gray bark, while that of shagbark hickories is rough and has long strips that curl out at both ends, looking like they will peel off.
     Sycamores and river birches grow on floodplains along creeks and rivers.  Sycamores have mottled light and dark bark that stands out among the gray bark of other riparian trees on floodplains.  The bark of river birch is pale-orange and peels off in many thin, curled strips.  Having decorative bark, river birch is commonly planted on lawns.
     American beeches, and pin, white and red oaks, have decorative dead leaves still on their twigs  through winter.  Sleet rattles through those dried leaves on its way to the ground.  Dead foliage on beeches is thin, curled and pale-beige.  Oaks' dried leaves are thicker, flat and brown.  One can identify these trees partly because of the foliage still attached to their twigs through winter.
     Some tree species have beauties in the seed pods and seed balls they retain on their twigs through winter.  Ash-leafed maples' paired, beige, winged seeds hanging in clusters on twigs are decorative through winter.  So are the stiff, upright seeds of some tulip poplars.  Like that tree's flowers, those interesting rings of pointed seeds create the shape of tulips.
     Sycamore and sweet gum trees have attractive seed balls on them through much of winter.  Those on sycamores have long stems, making their beige-colored balls look like dangling ear rings on the trees.  Sweet gum balls are dark-brown and riddled with bristles, and orifices where tiny, dark seeds tumble to the ground.  A variety of small birds, including two kinds of chickadees and American goldfinches, eat sweet gum seeds from the balls and off the ground.
     Several kinds of trees have colorful berries and fruits, which are attractive clinging to them through winter.  American hollies, hawthorns and the coniferous yews have red berries that are edible to mice, squirrels and berry-eating birds, including northern mockingbirds, cedar waxwings and American robins. 
     Crab apples of several varieties have red or yellow fruits that are attractive to us.  And those fruits are consumed by the mammals and birds mentioned above, plus, white-tailed deer, raccoons, wild turkeys and other mammals and birds.
     Red junipers are a conifer that produces pale-blue, berry-like cones that a variety of birds and rodents ingest.  But, of course, many of these cones on a tree are decorative.
     Many bigger deciduous trees are riddled with cavities where wind ripped limbs off them.  Those hollows are homes and nurseries to squirrels, raccoons, barred owls, certain kinds of small, forest birds such as titmice and nuthatches, and other species of wildlife. 
     Many kinds of trees are pretty to see through the year, including in winter.  And they feed and shelter a variety of interesting birds and mammals as well.  Get out in winter to see tree beauties, some of which probably are right in your neighborhood.