Newton Conservators Almanac

April Shadbush is a multi-stemmed, vase-shaped shrub, the smallest of the many serviceberry species, which grows to be 10 to 20 feet high and five to 10 feet wide. Shadbush

March Skunk Cabbage emerges in swampy areas. This plant generates enough heat to melt snow and ice around it. Look for its unusual flowers, which are maroon-striped, leaf-like spathes surrounding

April Spicebush is a fairly common large shrub in the understory near streams and in lowlands. Spicebush grows slowly, reaching up to 10 feet high and two to eight feet

July Spotted Wintergreen, also known as striped prince’s-pine or pipsissewa, is an attractive sub-shrub of the forest floor conspicuous by its waxy, dark green leaves, which have a white stripe

October Sugar maple is the classic New England maple tree. Its five-lobed dark green leaves turn a brilliant yellow, crimson and scarlet color in the fall. Sugar maple grows to

August Sweetfern is not a fern but a short round shrub. It grows to be two to four feet high and four to eight feet wide. It is called sweetfern

May Trout Lily is also known as dogtooth violet or yellow adder’s tongue. It grows in colonies in moist woods. Yellow, nodding flowers are carried singly above the basal mottled

December The White-winged Crossbill is an occasional winter visitor to the Newton area. It uses its crossed mandibles to pry open cones of spruce and hemlock, extracting seeds with its

May A member of the buttercup family, this is one of the most colorful blossoms of the early spring woods, blooming sometime from late April to mid-June on ledges and

November Winterberry grows to be six to 10 feet high. You will find winterberry in both wet and dry soils in woodlands, swamps, bogs and along the edges of ponds.

November Witch-Hazel is a multi-stemmed shrub with a bowing, graceful form that grows eight to 15 feet high and wide. “Hamamelis” means the flower and fruit mature at the same