The Festival of the Trees 1 at Via Negativa

As I mentioned last week, the first installment of The Festival of the Trees is now online at Via Negativa! I encourage you all to stop in and check out some of the beautiful, unique entries spotlighting trees and forests.

Enjoy!

Arbor Day Tree Blogging

Around the world, people celebrate Arbor Day at different times, but the purpose is always the same: to celebrate the trees.

In my new home state of Pennsylvania, Arbor Day is celebrated on the last day of every April. If you are interested in learning more about Arbor Day, it’s history, and the many dates upon which different countries and states celebrate this special day, you can visit The National Arbor Day Foundation online.

What better excuse than Arbor Day to share a large selection from the plethora of trees that I have gathered for you at Arboreality?

I offer you these tree images in celebration of Arbor Day, and wish you all a wonderful, leafy-green, Happy Tree and Forest Day!

Pennsylvania Red

The more I see of Pennsylvania, the more I notice the red. The first red I noticed was in the stone. Whether it is in the rock formations, or in the pavement itself, there is the presence of more iron-rich stone in the area which gives it a distinctive red that I am not accustomed to seeing in Washington State.

The second instance of red I noticed was in the birds. I’ve seen bright red birds (assumedly cardinals), and all sorts of as-yet-unknown birds with bright red markings, beaks, and faces, in addition to the red-tailed hawk (at least, I think it’s the red-tailed hawk).

Slowly I began to see the red in the flora as well. The branches of the trees and hedges all bear a beautiful red blush – especially visible in their wintry exposure and slowly swelling buds. There are red berries and rose hips in great abundance. Moreover, many trees which hold their leaves through winter (a phenomenon called leaf marcesence) add a light pinkish color to the forest. If you scroll back through some of the more recent images, can you see the red too?

Yesterday, as I looked at the trees around our cottage, I noticed another occurrence of the Pennsylvania red as seen in these images. I don’t know what things will look like around here in seasons to come, but I do wonder if this remarkable red is characteristic only of Pennsylvania, or can be found in other eastern states as well!