Plants Change Color

It’s not unusual for fresh new growth to be a different color than older leaves. You can easily see the contrast on yew, whose new leaves are light green compared to darker mature leaves. The new leaves of honey locust will often start out yellow-green then mature to a darker green.

These color changes are normal. There are some other color changes, however, to which you should pay attention. If your plant is a variety with colored foliage – yellow, purple, black, variegated – instead of plain green, check it periodically for reversions. These types of plants will sometimes produce a stem that has plain green leaves. That stem has “reverted” or changed back to the normal color for the plant. These stems will often be more robust than those with colored leaves and may overgrow the rest of the plant. After a year or two your once highly colored and attractive plant is just plain green.

If you find a stem that has reverted, the cure is simple - just cut it out. There is no way to prevent reversions from happening. Some plants with colored foliage never produce a reverted stem. In some species and varieties, it happens frequently. If you do find a reversion, make a note to inspect the plant a couple of times a year. You need to remove stems that have reverted as soon as possible. The photo is Physocarpus Diabolo®, a black-leaved cultivar with a branch that has reverted to all-green leaves.

Back from Arizona!

IndyGardening Blog is back with my return from a long vacation in Arizona. What a difference from last May! I didn’t expect to see tulips, redbuds and dogwoods in full bloom in early May. What a cool spring it’s been!

There are lots of things blooming this time of year, so identifying plants can be a challenge. Here’s one I was asked to ID recently. No photos, just a word description. Do you know what it is?

- Three leaves something like a rose leaf with very fine serrations)
- Trunk is 2-3 inches in diameter and 6-8 feet tall.
- Growing along but not in a waterway with some direct sunlight but woods on the back side.
- Flowers are white and remain bell shaped, do not open up as many flowers do.
- Seed pods from last year are three sided. The shape is something like a filbert nut.

The real key here is the leaf with three leaflets. There aren’t that many plants with this type of leaf (called trifoliate). A quick look through George W.D. Symonds Tree and Shrub Identification books gave a couple of options and the “flowers that don’t open” and 3-sided fruit nailed it down.

This is a fairly good description of American bladdernut, Staphylea trifolia. It is native to much of the eastern US, growing as a tall suckering
shrub rather than a tree. The leaves are opposite with three finely-toothed leaflets. The flowers are small white bells that appear in clusters from April into May. By September you’ll find a papery, inflated, balloon-like, three-sided fruit.

You can grow this native in moist, well-drained soils in sun but also in fairly deep shade. It won’t knock your socks off but can be a nice effect in a naturalized area.
You can find it at both the IMA and the Indianapolis Zoo.