Training one’s eye to identify trees is a fun way to connect with the world around us and can be useful for making home landscape selections. Trees are often identified using leaf shape and color, ...

With bright colors and interesting shapes, unusual tree and shrub bark can add visual interest to winter landscapes. Many types of bark become more distinctive and sought after during winter months.

Trees are known for absorbing CO2. But microbes in their bark also absorb other climate-active gases, methane, hydrogen, and ...

Scientists are uncovering a hidden ally in the fight against climate change and air pollution: the microscopic communities ...

One of the best ways to brighten up the dreary winter season is to add specimen plants now that will really pop then. Fortunately, most trees and shrubs that provide interesting winter bark will also ...

The seasons are changing from fall to winter, and one of the major changes to the environment is that the deciduous trees have lost their leaves. Evergreen trees may still have green needles, but all ...

A well-known local photographer and naturalist lifted a flap of hemlock bark and found some interesting small creatures. There were several tiny millipedes, only two or three millimeters long. Unlike ...

The use of tree-bark mulch in home gardens is a lesson learned from nature. In the forest, plants use fallen bark and other natural debris as a protective coat. By laying bark mulch on your soil, you ...

Second of two parts. Read part one here. Bark is a tree’s skin. Its main job is to keep out bacterial and fungal infections and wood-eating insects. Last week I wrote about the many ways tree bark ...