Mystery Evergreen Tree Trunk

In this image you can see the divergence from the primary trunk near its base. It’s really quite amazing… I’m considering unscrewing the screens from the upstairs windows so I can take a few pictures from that perspective and show you just how awesome this tree looks out the window while I work.

One of the great benefits of having these trees by the house is their marvelous attractiveness for birds. The best is on rainy days, when suddenly a short rain break hits… out rush all sorts of birds, and many of them gravitate to these trees, giving me a close-up view of their marvelous colors and markings!

I'm still inclined to think that this is some type of White pine... but that's still an educated guess. The DCNR describes the Eastern White Pine with some of my trees' characteristics, but does not discuss their over-all growth habit. Clearly more research is in order.

Mystery Evergreen Tree

Good morning and happy Monday everyone!

As promised, this week we’ll be looking at an as-yet-unknown evergreen tree. There are actually a few of them around me, but we’ll investigate a couple in particular which you can see alongside my cottage in the Friday, January 27, 2006 entry. These evergreens, while appearing to me to be some type of pine (based on needles and cones), are unique in their overall growth pattern from other evergreens I know.

What I know
In my experience, most evergreens grow in some sort of conical, tapering pattern. There is typically a single trunk (unless there was a split somewhere in the tree’s history, which sometimes results in two main trunks). From this single trunk one usually sees branches of progressively younger generations as one heads towards the crown, resulting in the standard conical shape. Deviations from this shape often include bent tops, disproportionate sides, or the die-back of lower branches leaving most of the greenery near the top of the tree. Western red cedars also appear to have multiple trunks on occasion.

What I see
The evergreen trees beside my cottage are completely different. There appears to be one primary trunk at the ground level which diverges around 1.5 meters from the ground. At that point it becomes several branching trunks, all of which curve up vertically to parallel what appears to be the original trunk. The branches do not follow the standard pattern with which I am familiar, but rather appear to break off and resprout much like you might see in a Big-leaf maple tree.

At first, I thought this was the result of some strange pruning… but after this last windstorm, I’m rather convinced that it is the natural growth habit for this species. Why? Because during the storm, the tree cast numerous branches, some of them large, to the ground. I can clearly see where new branches are likely to resprout, continuing the somewhat random growth pattern seen in this image. I can also see that what originally appeared to be a major hack job on behalf of the gardener is in fact more likely to be the natural loss of branches in previous years.

As seen in last Friday’s entry, the over-all outer shape of the tree is indeed semi-conical and somewhat tapering… but when you look up their skirts, there is an entirely different story in these trees.

Are these trees simply some type of White pine with a rather unique history, or are they an entirely different species? Conjecture is welcome, as are questions.

My favorite kind of day

Rain is my favorite weather; I could never tire of it. Today I am blessed with a lovely, steady, soft rain – I hope it continues all week long!

Rumor has it I've been missing a nice long stretch of rain around Seattle since moving. At least I know the forest, trees and gardens in Seabeck are being well-watered. I hope to find the flower and herb beds happily overgrown upon my return.

You know, blogs are great for sharing my thoughts and images, but I wish I could convey SMELLS through this blog. Then I could share with you the wonderful scent of the rain on the trees, grass, and thickets.

Happy New Moon, Happy New Year!

Here you can glimpse a bit of the shadow I mentioned of the mystery tree, and one of its branches in the foreground. Beyond it you can see the Christmas tree, and a corner of our cottage.

Next week we’ll be exploring the large evergreens you can see next to my home. They grow in a way unlike any other evergreen I’ve encountered before, as you too will see when we visit them from many different angles.

This Sunday January 29th we’ll experience the first new moon of 2006 in Aquarius, which also marks the new year for many cultures. Best wishes and fresh starts to you all!

New Friends

There are many beautiful trees around me, and this is among my favorites. I have no idea who she is, or what the half-rotted fruits are beneath her, but she is so elegant, and casts such a lovely morning shadow in the sunrise, that it’s hard not to be smitten!

My best guess is that she's a type of chestnut - or a very, very big crab apple. As the seasons change (and I find my tree-identification books) I’ll be able to tell you more about her. But for now, just enjoy the show!

Washington State Quarter Finalists

You might recall that last October I posted my submission for the Washington State quarter design.

The Washington State Quarter Advisory Commission [SQAC] took in hundreds of submissions both visual and descriptive, and came up with a handful of narrative designs which they in turn submitted to the US Mint.

The US Mint took these narratives and created three designs which are now available for public consideration at the SQAC website. Soon the public will have the opportunity to cast their vote on these designs to select which one will make it onto the Washington State quarter for 2007.

I’ll always be a Washingtonian at heart, and I intend to vote! After looking at these designs, I can’t help myself – I’m in love with the orca whale in Native American design. Despite the absence of trees, I feel that this quarter not only conveys much of what I love about Washington, but it also gives a nod to the Native American cultures which are so important to America. I only hope that this design passes muster among Northwest Native Americans. It seems to be a sort of hybrid design, but it is nonetheless unique.

Take a look, and decide for yourself!

Frilly fungus

I just love fungus, don’t you? There are so many gorgeous varieties of all shapes, sizes, and colors, and they serve such an important role in the forest! Fungi are the decomposers – they take complex molecules and break them down into molecules which are more readily assimilated by creatures such as trees (and many others). Without fungi, there would be no forests!

Here we see them dutifully assisting with the decomposition of a few logs. I'd love to provide you with more detailed images, but that will have to wait. My folks gave me a shiny new camera for Christmas which should capture close-ups without defocusing... Alas, it is lost in a box!

Entrance

Here is one of the first structures that I see upon coming up the long drive to my cottage. This little shed still functions so far as I can tell (although I haven’t ventured to ask what it stores). Adjoining it you see the overgrown remnants of another stone wall; behind it some of the beautiful, old trees surrounding the property. Many of these trees are well over 100 years old.

Although you can see the new development skirting the property, it’s easy to forget that they are there at all, and instead wrap your mind around what this beautiful place must have looked like when all the trees and structures still stood; when the land was still farmed; when the people still cruised around with horse and cart.

Yesterday, after walking my dogs, I locked them in the house (much to their chagrin) and set out on my own among the trees. It was amazing how many more animals I saw around me without the boys trundling through the brush. This place truly possesses its own voice and magic. Apart from knowing that there were dozens of eyes watching me wander through the trees and hedges, I had the distinct feeling that the land around me was breathing, whispering of days long past and memories of a quieter time.

Trees and stone

Around the property where I now live are numerous stone ruins from the remnants of barns, sheds, cottages, and in this image, a silo. Add the many over-growing trees sprouted around them and you have a painter’s paradise, a tribute to romantics everywhere.

This week I’ll be exploring the grounds a bit more, and bringing you images which show some of the beauty in the skeletons of the trees adorning these ruins as only winter shows them to us. They bear burrs and burls, cones and conks, with plenty of mystery and allure.

Mangroves

We’re taking a short break from exploring Pennsylvania today to step into the beautiful world of Placencia, Belize.

Here are some mangroves for my blogging pals Trailhead and Gil (and for everyone to enjoy, of course). I fell in love with the mangroves in Belize – something about them really sings to me. Perhaps it’s because they look so much like an aquatic version of my beloved rhododendrons. Or maybe it’s because they are so captivatingly beautiful, and home to so many creatures. Whatever it is, I think you’ll agree that they are amazing!

We took a couple days to cruise through the mangroves with a local guide: Bernard of Ocean Motion Guide Service owned and operated by Bernard and Leslie. We traveled up the Monkey River and through the Placencia Lagoon. Among those roots we found fish, birds, bats, insects (some amazing butterflies), and huge, lounging iguanas. There are three types of mangroves in here (although they’re hard to distinguish in the pictures): the red, the black, and the white.

Mangroves propagate with these long bean-pod-like fruits which grow from the mangroves’ white flowers and sprout while still on the trees. The little sprouts drop into the water and catch hold of a bit of mud, and voilà, a new mangrove is born! Our navigator Bernard careened us through the narrow tunnels between the clumps of mangroves at amazing speeds, slowing only at the narrowest hair-pin turns! What a ride!

Bernard was extremely knowledgeable about the environment and culture of Belize, and told us so much about the plants, animals, and people, that these days I wish I’d taken notes!

Exploring

Howdy! Today I thought I’d share a couple more images that I took the other day of the area surrounding my cottage. I’m located on what’s left of a farm (the surrounding acres were sold for development). In the center of the development there are me and two other cottages along with remnants of old barns, homes, silos and whatnot, along with woods and thickets as you see in these two images.

Obviously, we have a lot of fun ahead of us just exploring the yard and connecting pastures! For the most part, I have no idea what kinds of trees I’m looking at, but I’m eager to learn! The tree in the foreground of the first image has dropped some kind of fruit during the last season. The thickets, which we will also explore, seem laced with what I can only guess to be wild roses (given their amazingly painful thorns and tiny red rosehips).

The other wonderful benefit is the wildlife, of which there is much! We have deer living in here, and a multitude of beautiful, brilliant birds, some of which are a bright red! We heard a screech owl announce our arrival the first few nights (at least, I sure hope it was a screech owl), and there are more than enough fat grey squirrels to go around! We also have coyotes, which like to howl when the reactor alarm test sounds, and I’m waiting to see the raccoons. Don’t they have raccoons out here?

Finally, is anyone out there adept in the art of scat-identification? I need to get myself a book I think… I know what deer poop looks like (and evidently, my husky loves the stuff), but there are these much larger poops that I just haven’t seen before! Might we have bears in our midst?

There were always bears rumored around Seabeck, but sadly I never saw any live ones passing through. I’d always hoped that they’d found a nice, lush hold-up somewhere, but now that we’ve moved out, I hope they’ll feel welcome at our place. :)

O Tanenbaum

We celebrated the Winter Solstice on the road, but squeaked home just before Christmas Eve. This allowed us time to get some much-needed food (no…more…fast…food…!!!), and to get ourselves a lovely Christmas tree!

Here you see our “oriental spruce” happily planted in our new front yard. We got lucky, and had a few warm days which thawed the earth right about the time I wanted to plant. I do my best to follow lunar cycles for planting/gardening, and put this one in the ground during the Pisces phase of the New Moon. Seen behind it are some of the older trees around our home that we’ll be exploring in the coming months.

One of my favorite parts of planting our Christmas tree each year is watching it grow out of its pruned-Christmas tree shape, and into its own natural form. Now that I’ve seen how great it looks in the ground, it’s sooo incredibly difficult not to want to plant the heck out of the whole surrounding area. However, I do believe that I will have to wait for the Spring!

By the way, did you catch a glimpse of our first full moon of the year this past weekend? Woweeee! What a beauty! Even if you couldn’t see it, you certainly must have felt it!

View from a Rest Stop

Greetings Arborealists!

I finally got out my camera from my trip, and big surprise – I totally blew it on pictures across the US. You wouldn’t believe how terrible I am about taking pictures on trips and vacations and the like… I get so swept up in having fun and looking with my own eyes, that I completely forget I even have a camera. (On my first trip to Belize, I went down with four disposable cameras, and only used the first half of two, mostly on the last day before I left!)

So, upon looking this morning, I found this gorgeous picture from a particularly cold morning in Nebraska. We took the I-80 across the US, and I must say that Idaho and Wyoming are simply BEAUTIFUL! They were my favorites... although there was definitely more of that awesome sage scrub than trees to speak of in those two states (at least, from the I-80).

This picture, like virtually all of my few others, was taken from one of countless rest stops (and off-ramps, heeheehee). In the upper-right corner you’ll see the moon who was our constant companion on the road. We watched her rise in the evenings, and set in the day (as she was waning). The best moon rise we saw was a deep, red moon the evening we entered Illinois, hugging the horizon as a great red jewel.

Anyways, no clue what kind of tree you’re looking at here, but I do know that Nebraska was far more beautiful than folks might have otherwise led me to believe… flat as it was, it was a gorgeous landscape.

More to follow… we had a wonderful windstorm last night here in Pennsylvania, and I’m hoping to get a few shots of the snow-dusting we received before it melts away.

Have a great week everyone!

Back in Black!

Hello everyone! I made it to Pennsylvania, and as of this evening I am back online. I have much to catch up on, so it might take me a few days to get back to blogging... but in the mean time, what in the world wide web is UP with my tree images? Does anyone else see them all in low-resolution, or is it just me?

Someone's been sitting in my chair...