The Wisconsin Mosaic

The undisputed king of the Wisconsin savanna. Massive, deeply lobed leaves and equally massive acorns crowned with a distinctive fringed cap — unmistakable in hand. Fire-resistant corky bark allows it to survive the prairie burns that historically maintained oak openings across southern Wisconsin.

Slow but inexorable. A bur oak planted today is a 300-year decision. Plant where you want a long-term anchor and never plan to move it.

The aristocrat of North American oaks. Rounded lobes without bristle tips distinguish it from the red oak group. Light gray, scaly bark — almost flaky in places — develops a quiet dignity with age.

White oak acorns are sweeter (lower tannin) than any other native oak in our region, edible with minimal preparation. The wood is the gold standard for everything from furniture to whiskey barrels. Slower than bur oak but ultimately more elegant.

Impossible to misidentify. The mature bark exfoliates in long, curling strips that hang from the trunk like ribbons — visible from a quarter-mile in winter. Compound leaves with five (occasionally seven) leaflets, the terminal three notably larger than the basal pair.

The nut rivals pecan in flavor — pecan and hickory are the same genus. Slow to bear (15–20 years from seed) but worth every season of patience. One of the great underused American food trees.

The richest food and timber tree native to Wisconsin — and also the most antisocial. Roots, leaves, and hulls release juglone, a chemical that suppresses tomatoes, apples, blueberries, and many other plants within roughly fifty feet.

Site walnuts at the edge of your food forest, never in the middle. The compound leaves (15–23 leaflets) and deeply furrowed dark bark are diagnostic. Tennis-ball-sized green hulls drop in fall and stain everything they touch a permanent inky brown.

The single most productive native food shrub in Wisconsin. Multi-stemmed, thicket-forming, productive within 4–6 years of planting. The nuts are small but flavorful — comparable to European filberts but with better cold tolerance and disease resistance.

Plant in groups of three or more for cross-pollination. Tolerates partial shade but produces best in full sun. Forms a dense, wildlife-friendly hedge over time.

Thicket-forming small tree that supports more native pollinators than almost any other Wisconsin plant. Spectacular white bloom in early May — one of the first major nectar sources of the season. Tart red-to-purple plums in August-September make exceptional jelly and wine.

Suckers freely; will form a dense colony if allowed. This is a feature for wildlife habitat, a nuisance if you're trying to maintain a manicured lot. Choose your siting accordingly.

White spring blossoms in late April, blueberry-flavored purple berries in June (hence "Juneberry"), and brilliant orange fall color. Few plants give you four seasons of interest plus genuinely good fruit. Smooth gray bark with characteristic vertical striping.

The catch: birds love them. A single tree without netting will be stripped within 48 hours of ripening. Plant several to share, or net the ones you want for yourself.

The largest native fruit in North America, with a flavor somewhere between mango, banana, and custard. Tropical-looking foliage and unusual maroon flowers in spring give the tree a distinctly out-of-place feeling for Wisconsin.

At the northern edge of its range here — historically marginal but now reliably hardy in southern Wisconsin with climate shift. Needs two genetically distinct trees for cross-pollination. Tolerates partial shade well, especially when young.

Massive flat-topped flower clusters in June give way to drooping panicles of small purple-black berries in late August. Both flowers and berries are useful — fritters and cordials from the flowers, syrups and wine from the fruit. Always cook the berries; raw fruit causes nausea.

Fast and forgiving. A cutting stuck in moist ground will often root and produce fruit within two years. Tolerates a wide range of conditions but loves moist, rich soil best.

Compact, hardy, productive — perhaps the most underused fruit shrub in the Midwest. Glossy black berries in late summer with the highest measured antioxidant content of any North American fruit. Astringent raw, exceptional in juice, jam, and wine.

Tolerates almost any soil from boggy edges to dry uplands. Brilliant red fall color. Modest size makes it ideal for the front of a food forest planting or as edible hedging.

The deciduous conifer — soft pale-green needles in bunches of 10–20 along the twigs, turning luminous gold in October before dropping for winter. The transformation is one of the great seasonal events in northern Wisconsin landscapes.

Wants its feet wet. Thrives in conditions that would kill almost any other tree — true bogs, sedge meadows, the edges of beaver ponds. Plant in groves; tamaracks look strange standing alone but spectacular in groups.

The oak that grows where other oaks die. Tolerates periodic flooding and saturated soil that would rot the roots of bur oak or white oak. Leaves have a distinctive two-tone appearance — dark green above, silvery-white below — which gives the species its specific epithet bicolor.

Acorns on long stalks (peduncles), unlike most oaks. Sweet enough to eat with minimal leaching. Plant on the upland margin of your wetland for the structural canopy that ties wet and dry zones together.