Spring Greetings from Kitsap Forests

Spring Salutations and Fall Felicitations to all!

Trees in the Pacific Northwest are blooming, and in the cold forests of Kitsap County our deciduous trees are slowly awakening.

Wild willow hybrids (Salix) are early with fuzzy pussywillow flowers. Today you can smell hints of the balsam perfume of the Black cottonwood (Populus balsamifera spp. trichocarpa) drifting through on the breeze. Evergreen huckleberries (Vaccinium ovatum), an important year-round food source for birds and beasts of all kinds, have already begun to blossom.


Red alder (Alnus rubra) trees are among the first to wiggle open here in the spring warmth. The “red” of their appellation is best revealed in spring when the twigs, buds, and catkin flowers all blush with the rise of sap and the stir of March storms. Alders are a hearty pioneering species which help establish good growing conditions for other plant species in the forest.

We have a healthy stand of young alders (10+ years) which grew over the part of the property which was originally clear-cut. Today they are home to birds, frogs, mice, snakes, bunnies, bees, and plenty of other critters (and there’s an awesome blackberry thicket producing in the middle).

Spring days are patchworks of rain, cloud, wind, thunder, and sudden, bright sunbreaks. It’s the right time of year for rainbow watching, so if you see sun, rain, and black clouds in the early morning or late afternoon, I highly recommend that you step away from your desk, go outside, and search the sky for fleeting arcs of color.

Want more spring trees and flowers? Take a look at spring blossoms in eastern Pennsylvania from March 2006 and March 2007.

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REMINDER: The Festival of the Trees issue 46 is hosted at Vanessa’s Trees and Shrubs Blog on About.com.

Vanessa invites submissions of all kinds, and is especially interested in humorous trees in honor of April Fool's Day.

• Deadline for submissions is March 29th.
• Participation is easy: blog about trees, send us the link, spread the word!
• Email submissions to: treesandshrubs.guide [at] about [dot] com — or use the contact form at The Festival of the Trees coordinating blog.

Red Alder Cones

Red Alder cones like these are sprinkled all around my garden from last autumn. It’s no wonder these trees are growing like weeds among the garden herbs! In the upper-right you see one of the flowered male catkins draped and spent upon the branch.

We have many lovely Red Alders growing around the house, and a healthy young stand maturing on the western portion of the property. The young stand is home to our “blackberry circle” where many young ferns, foxgloves, and up-and-coming evergreens are patiently emerging in the small light gaps.

More Mystery Tree Blogging!

The Arboreality tree blog is filled with mystery trees, and today I’d like to share one of my favorite trees from around the farm. This one happens to be visible out of the upstairs skylight, and it looms over the better part of the driveway beside the cottage.

We first saw this tree at Arboreality in winter, when its graceful, leafless lines crossed the cold blue sky. This tree looks great in snow: you can see it as the fourth image down in the En Hiver post. You can also see this tree in the third and fourth images of the Chasing the Sunrise post.

Naturally, I have been eager to learn its identity, especially because I haven’t found many others like it around the property, and certainly none so big as this one.

Waiting for this tree to give up its secrets has been like watching a pot of water waiting for it to boil! Second only to the black walnut, this tree was just about the last one to open its leaves.

From the pictures above, I think you’ll agree that it was well worth the wait. This tree is growing over the driveway between the two garden sheds. The second to the last image showing few leaves was taken on April 17, and you can see how dramatic the change has been over the last couple weeks.

I love its big, fat catkins and crazy little red tops (which are mostly hidden in these images). The leaf arrangement and catkins lead me to believe that this tree might be a pecan, a hickory, or even a butternut. If you have other suggestions, please let me know!