Looking out around the tree farm at Pryor’s Nursery, the trees look good at this point in the winter. Even though evergreens we use for privacy screens are dormant now, respiration thru the evergreen tree leaves can occur when temperatures rise above 40 degrees. Science has now discovered that evergreens are also a filter system that remove micro particulates ( aerosol size ) . This includes removing some air pollution. Photosynthesis does not occur at this time, but some air filtration still occurs.
Even if photosynthesis does not significantly occur in the winter, it does one important thing: it extends the photosynthetic season. In autumn evergreen trees can still be cranking out energy long after deciduous trees have dropped their leaves and they allow the photosynthetic machinery to restart up to two months earlier in the spring.
Revving up photosynthesis early is a decided advantage. In nature, whether plant or animal, survival is all about being able to gather more resources than are lost to the elements. Having several extra months on each end of the growing season more than balances out the costs of being evergreen. It is a strategy that has proven itself through time.
Your living fence of evergreen trees is a biomass filter helping to reduce the earths’ carbon footprint. We have started planting our living fence this week, so get your orders in!
