This series is dedicated to educating our geofriends about some of the interesting trees and vines that can be seen along this newest section of the Spring Creek Greenway (SCG) trail. When complete, the Spring Creek Greenway will encompass 12,000 acres and almost 40 linear miles, from Highway 59 at the San Jacinto River to Spring Creek Park west of Tomball. While Phase III of the trail is not officially open yet, the construction is complete, and it’s time to get these posted! This section of trail begins at Pundt Park and extends over 2.5 miles to Dennis Johnston Park on Riley Fuzzel Road; and this now brings the completed SCG trail length to almost 12 miles, from Jesse H. Jones Park & Nature Center in Humble all the way to Dennis Johnston Park! Please note that SCG trail hours are dawn to dusk, and replace all containers as you found them.
Trifoliate Orange (Poncirus trifoliata) is locally abundant along the greenway trail. It does not produce the large fruit we can usually buy in the stores; but while the fruit are small and full of seeds, they are edible. And since most of the edible citrus are more susceptible to various soil and root issues, it is also commonly used as rootstock for many citrus trees. Not everyone realizes that multiple types of citrus (orange, tangerine, grapefruit...whatever!) can be grafted onto one rootstock plant, and produce multiple types of fruit. One tree with a wealth of citrus! But watch out for this one as you go for the smiley...it has rigid inch-long daggers all over the branches!