Top Ten (Unusual) Trees for Cold Winter Areas

By Patricia Diaz, from the January 2003 Newsletter

Many of us wish we could grow some of the more unusual and beautiful trees like dogwood, Japanese stewartia, and Asian pears. While they flourish in the Lewiston/Clarkston valley, it's pretty difficult to winter over some of the beautiful flowering trees. Dick Rifkind, from Kingston, Idaho, has come to the rescue, however, and has developed a line of trees that are easy to winter over. He has the largest selection of rare and unusual trees in the Inland Northwest. His secret, he says, is to sell trees grown from seed instead of cuttings.

Mr. Rifkind was a California lawyer who had a wholesale nursery on the side and decided he liked the nursery business far more than being a lawyer. So he settled in northern Idaho and started his own nursery in Kingston in 1992, after noticing that most nurseries carry the same limited stock. He got his love for horticulture, especially deciduous trees, from his father, a federal judge who, too, was crazy about horticulture. He says that he likes the seasonal changes, the flowers, the colors, and the stages of growth that you see in deciduous trees.

His customers come from around Idaho, western Montana, and eastern Washington to purchase his trees. He also teaches at North Idaho College in Coeur d'Alene and has a newsletter featuring the Gabby Gardener. For more information, write the Bumble Bee Nursery, 4583-B Old River Rd., Kingston, Idaho, 83839, or call 208-682-4418.

The top ten trees that Mr. Rifkind recommends for our area include:

• Chinese scholar tree (Sophora japonica) - a fast-growing tree with lacy foliage. Older trees have pale yellow spikes of flowers in midsummer.
• Flowering crabapple (Malus species and hybrids) - He has new varieties that are disease-resistant and keep the fruit on the tree better (less mess, probably the number one reason people don't plant the beautiful crabapple).
• Japanese stewartia (S. pseudocamellia) - This tree has beautiful white, camellia-like flowers in early summer. In the fall the leaves turn beautiful colors of reds, pumpkins, and purples and the winter bark has incredible cinnamon and silver patterns on it.
• Katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) - This tree has beautiful red or yellow foliage in the fall and is a heathery cloud of new growth in the spring.
• 'Nijisseiki' Asian pear (Pyrus 'Twentieth Century') - The fruit of this tree tastes like a pear, yet has the crunch of an apple.
• 'October Glory' red maple (Acer rubrum) - This tree has been featured in this column before and with good reason. It is probably the most glorious of the red maples.
• Red oak (Quercus rubra) - The red oak's leaves turn beautiful bright orange in the fall. It is a fast grower, about 18-24 inches per year.
• 'Satomi' dogwood (Cornus kousa 'Satomi') - This tree has pink flowers that last from May until late June. It is by far the best dogwood for cold areas.
• Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum) - This beautiful tree blooms in the fall when nothing much else has flowers. The tree grows to about 25 feet and has beautiful lily-of-the-valley-type flowers. The leaves usually turn red then too.
• Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) - This tree's shiny leaves turn a brilliant scarlet in the fall, unmatched even by the glorious red maple. It grows about 18 inches a year in any soil, even standing water.

Pat Diaz lives about an hour east of Moscow on 11 acres near Dworshak Reservoir. As of press time, there is NO SNOW, a most unusual occurrence out there. She's dreaming of next year's garden while snuggling up to the cozy wood stove.

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