Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Blossoms on the old linden tree




While many of the larger trees around the farm have yet to open their leaves, the old linden tree has a head start with early spring blossoms. You may remember our earlier explorations of this old tree back in the late winter.

I was unsure as to what to expect from a linden tree, having never seen one before (at least, not that I recall specifically). It seems as though I learned a while back that linden means lime… but this is most certainly NOT a lime tree.

Right now all we have are the tiny “flowers,” and I’m sure that the leaves will follow in a few weeks. These blossoms are not at all what I expected, but they are wonderful none the less!


I have this feeling that the big trees need a solid, steady, two-week-long rain in order to push those leaves out. Of course, I could be projecting...

Bring on the rain!!!

9 comments:

  1. I think you're right about the rain, because it rained on/off last week and now everything is looking greener. I think I really am going to enjoy this nicer weather! ;-)

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  2. Hi Crystal! I'm so excited for you to have completed your move. Everything is still so new to me here in Pennsylvania... enjoy the new discoveries, and the gardening!

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  3. I love these big old trees. There's a madrona and a maple down the street that are just amazing.

    I especially like the light in the second and fourth pictures. The "flowers" in the last picture look like Spanish moss in the small version of the photo. Lovely!

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  4. JB, greetings! It's good of you to pop in. I really enjoyed your last post about horses (I even shared it with a friend). I look forward to your next thoughts. :)

    LilyB, aren't old trees wonderful? The old growth forests in Washington are some of my favorite places to explore. Around here, we have trees like this linden tree which are likely 200+ years old, and probably some of the oldest in the region (I'm not certain about that statistic, it's just a guess considering how much deforestion occurred originally).

    Madronas and big leaf maples are just breathtaking, aren't they? I wonder if they'd grow around here if I were to try planting some. ;)

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  5. Here in Europe I am always being told to look at the lovely lime tree--- and I never see any limes on it. I do however see Linden trees, aka Lime in Europe. I am trying to find out what Lime trees are called!

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  6. TravellerOne, thank you for the insight! Ha! That's so funny... I wonder if there is a biological connection between the trees, or if it's merely a transposition in names somewhere in history?

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  7. Here we go... gotta love the "free encyclopedia"... apparently linden and lime are both derivatives of the same germanic root, and are both used for this tree species. Neither the name nor the tree is in any way related to citrus lime trees.

    Hmmmm...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilia

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  8. I'm liking the leaves.. they remind me of the flower fairies in fantasia

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  9. Hmmm... what a lovely mental image Ducklover! I'll remember that next time I visit the linden tree.

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