Page 12 - North Haven Magazine Issue 11 Holiday 2019

Three Ancient & Unique

by Sally Brockett

When the leaves fall from the deciduous hardwood trees, our landscape will still have shades of green through the winter because the nee-
dled evergreens are just that – ever green! Nearly all trees with needled leaves (yes, the needles are the leaf form of these trees) retain their
needled leaves throughout the seasons. And these are the evergreens that are familiar to us through the holiday seasons because they can
be used for long-lasting decorations indoors and out. So, this is a good time to take a closer look at some special trees, because they have
needles, and produce cones, yet they are deciduous, not evergreen!
These pine trees are named for the pitch they produce. Unlike tree
PITCH PINES sap, which is the sugary secretion from some trees and plants, pitch
Some of you may not know that North Haven is home to a very is much thicker, more like honey that is beginning to crystallize.
special type of pine tree, the pitch pine. These trees can be seen The Cherokee used pitch for canoe building, and later it was used
on a 17-acre parcel of land that formed nearly 15,000 years ago in the ship building industry. The Iroquois used it for medicinal
during the last Ice Age. This land is the last undeveloped area of purposes. Due to the sticky pitch that seeps from the branches, this
sand plains in the town and is located off Bradley Street. The Pitch tree is not used for seasonal decorations.
Pines Park has been permanently preserved by the town as open
space in order to protect these trees and other unique plants such
as the Lady Slipper, and Princess Pine, that have adapted to survive TAMARACK TREES
in this dry, sandy soil with few nutrients to support plant life. Another unique needled tree is the Tamarack tree, a species of larch
which may grow up to 65 feet tall with a 2-foot diameter trunk. The
Algonquin used the wood for snow shoes because it is tough, but
flexible. Today, this tree is used mostly as a landscape specimen.

Tamaracks are a conical shape and would make a “perfect Christ-
mas tree”, except they lose their needles in the fall. Unlike most
needled trees which are evergreen, the tamarack tree produces soft,
lime-green needles in the spring, which turn blue-green through

Pitch pines grow in irregular shapes, with twisting trunks and
branches, dark bark that is deeply fissured, and thick on the trunk
to help protect it from fire. This tree cannot self-pollinate, but it
produces male and female pine cones. The seeds are released from
the cones by heat, so fires have helped this tree to germinate new
saplings. Barring unfortunate events, the pitch pine can live for 200
years. Sadly, North Haven lost many of these special trees when the
May 2018 tornado swept through the Pitch Pines Park and Whar-
ton Brook State Park in the northern area of town.
the summer. In the fall, these needles turn a brilliant golden-yellow
before they drop off for the winter. Once established, the young
tamarack tree will grow quickly for the first 50 years, and may live
for 200-300 years. The changing colors and long life span make this
tree a good choice for use as an ornamental, or for creating a color-
ful landscape when mixed with other evergreen trees.

North Haven is home to a stand of Tamarack trees on property
along Mt. Carmel Avenue, at the base of Sleeping Giant. The James
Stephens family chose to plant several hundred tamarack trees on
a sloped area at the back of their farm property. When the seed-
lings arrived at planting time in the early spring, Jim Stephens was
in a cast due to a skiing accident in late winter. Concerned that
the seedlings would die before the cast was removed, the Stephens

12 North Haven Magazine - Holiday 2019