Looking out around the tree farm at Pryor’s Nursery, the evergreen trees look good at this point in the winter. The benefit of evergreen tree winter photosynthesis is one significant advantage, making them superior to deciduous trees. Even though evergreens we use for privacy screens are dormant now, respiration through the evergreen tree leaves can occur when temperatures rise above 40 degrees. Science has now discovered that evergreens are also a filter system that removes micro particulates (aerosol size). This includes removing some air pollution. Photosynthesis does not occur now, but some air filtration still occurs.
Even if photosynthesis does not significantly occur in the winter, it does have one significant benefit: it extends the evergreen tree 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 gathering more resources than are lost to the elements. Having several extra months at 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 earth’s carbon footprint. We have started planting our living fence this week, so get your orders in!
About the Author: Wade Pryor is a professional botanist and the founder of Pryor’s Nursery . Since 1981, he has installed over 82,000 evergreen trees, specializing in “Living Fence” privacy screens across the Mid-Atlantic region. Learn more about Wade’s expertise here.