Crazy Conifers

Lyman Glacier & Tamaracks, a photo by Marshmallow on Flickr.

This weekend a steady wind has blown many of the leaves off the trees. With any luck, though, the tamarack trees I visit on my walk around the lake will hold on to their gorgeous yellow needles a while longer.

Tamaracks, otherwise known as larches, are fascinating trees. They are the only deciduous conifers: their needles turn color in the fall, then drop off. They prefer the colder regions of the earth, including some states that hug the Canadian border. They look gorgeous when masses of them turn color, but they are also beautiful planted as specimen trees in yards, as they are here in Wisconsin.

Larches are members of the pine family, which usually holds onto its needles so that they can keep photosynthesizing all winter, helping them survive. Deciduous trees must expend a lot of energy creating new leaves each year. They make next year's leaves in the summer and early fall, when there is plenty of sunshine to give them the energy to do so, then store them in buds over the winter.

So how can a tamarack afford to put out new needles each spring? They do it sparingly, for one thing. Instead of sprouting as many needles as an evergreen, they put out tufts of needles at intervals along their branches, and single ones along new growth. That way, the needles don't shade each other, and they can maximize the amount of sunshine on each one.

So keep your eye out for naked pine trees this winter. The incredibly soft, light green needles they will sprout next year are one of the most beautiful sights of spring.