Today’s image is from a recent hike at Ridley Creek State Park. This “goose snag” caught our eye from way up the trail, and was too cool not to share. Perhaps we should name her “Snaggle Goose.”
There is more to share from the park: coming up next I’ll share pictures of winter hardwoods, fungi, and lovely evergreen holly.
"The park office is in the “Hunting Hill” mansion, built by the Jeffords family in 1914. The mansion was built around a 1789 Pennsylvania stone farmhouse that forms the core of the building and serves as the reception center."Recently the Philadelphia area has seen bits of snow, ice, rain, and freezing rain, which meant that on this particular hike, most of my attention was spent trying to maintain my balance on icy trails. We will return soon on less icy days when I can carry my camera and bring you photos from the forest. In the spring I will also return to share images of the gardens. In the absence of pictures, I can tell you that the creek was roaring and full, and the trees were snuggly in their icy snow-blanket.
Yesterday’s unseasonably warm sunrise was matched by the evening's delicious, colorful sunset. I’m not sure if it was the stormy weather, the eclipse, or my mood, but at yesterday's sunset the sky was positively glowing! My camera does not remotely do justice to the golden pink of the clouds and deep blue of the sky.
Blog Update: Arboreality is now listed at the Nature Blog Network. Be sure to check it out for listings of other great nature blogs!
It’s a warm, humid morning in Philadelphia (60 degrees Fahrenheit and rising). I’ve only been in Chester County, Pennsylvania for three winters, but each one has included some strange, unseasonably warm days often sandwiched between freezing days and big snows. Today the prediction is for rain and possibly thunder; by the speed of those low, lavender clouds – I suspect that we’re in for a wild new moon (accompanied by an equally electric solar eclipse). Time to plant!
I realize we’re well past the winter solstice and holiday season, but many of you are still looking for information about tree planting for your live Christmas trees. Here in Eastern Pennsylvania, I still haven’t planted a tree for the season – the weather, soil, and timing just haven’t been right this year, so I’ll need to wait for the spring thaw. (Tomorrow is Groundhog Day in the US, so we’ll see what Punxsutawney Phil has to say about it!)
Live Christmas trees are an excellent way to celebrate the return of a new year. You can keep them indoors for 7-10 days, and then plant them as soon as the ground is ready (soft enough to dig). If you’re going to bring the tree indoors be sure to keep it cool and moist (but not soggy); watering with ice cubes works well. Take the tree back outside as soon as possible.
If it’s not the right time to plant your tree, just keep it somewhere outside where it gets a little light, but is protected from the wind. Protect the root ball by packing leaves or old hay bales around the base of the tree. (Placing the tree on the leeward side of the house helps too).
When you plant your tree, be sure to prepare the soil wider and deeper than the rootball will reach. Mix in compost to lighten and nurture the soil, and plant your tree just a little high in the hole so that as it settles, it doesn’t sink into the earth. (And remember: NO MULCH VOLCANOS).
The first year of your new tree’s life is critical: be sure to keep your tree regularly watered (but not waterlogged) through the dry months. Your young tree needs to establish a new root system before it can withstand drought on its own.
Fertilize and mulch your tree in the autumn when the water requirements are not as intense and your tree is focused on root development. This will help it grow strong healthy buds for the next spring, and remind you for another year of the return of the sun and warm season after the long, cold winter.
For other ideas about Christmas trees, check out my earlier articles:
Planting Live Christmas Trees for the Winter Solstice
I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas (Garden Rant)
Deck the Trees with Strings of Berries
This winter we built a woodshed under the pine trees at our cottage in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Our design includes two segments of 8 feet square each: one for wood, and the other for the splitter.
When practical, we like to find opportunities to cut trees and split our own firewood from the rounds. This year we purchased our wood from the local Bradley Tree Experts as usual, and now we have someplace dry to keep it (rather than tarping the wood on the driveway).
The great thing about using wood heat for your home is that it warms you several times over. You warm yourself up stoking the fire. You warm yourself up every time you haul in a load of wood. You warm yourself up sawing, rolling, loading, unloading, splitting, hauling, and stacking wood. Managing the fire is part of how I keep active in the winter with the garden sleeping under snow.
Inside the fire is cozy, and with the cost of oil these days it’s actually a more affordable way to heat the home.
Outside, my guess is that the squirrels have all put down payments on the prime real estate, and are having an excellent weekend moving in to the coziest corners of the shed. I’ve already discovered walnuts in the stack!
I encourage you to visit Cady May at Meanwhile, Back in the Holler and listen in on what the trees have to say in her neck of the woods. She's composed a timely video which is as much a documentary as it is a lovingly constructed work of art: Autumn in a Tennessee Holler.
Last night--or rather--very early this morning, I had a visit from a Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus). It was sitting on the lower of the two horizontal branches in this image.
December was the first time I spotted the Great Horned Owl. It was watching me one night from up high in a Black walnut, and called out when I started to approach. According to an article at the PA Game Commission website, “[t]hese owls hoot to stake out territory and as part of the species' mating activity, which in Pennsylvania takes place in December or early January.”
This morning we had a full-view at tree-branch level from an upper window looking out on the Eastern white pine next to the house. Even better, we’d left all our outside lights on last night to watch the snow coming down, so we had a full-color, up-close-and-personal-view of an owl at eye level not two meters from our window. They don’t call it the “Great” Horned Owl for nothing – this is one HUGE, and beautiful owl!
Apparently, I inadvertently lured the owl here with the birdseed I’ve been setting out since the weather turned cold. I like to offer birdseed in winter for the dual benefit of feeding the birds through the cold months, and allowing me to see them all in their many colors from the window where I work.
Of course, the seed attracts more than birds. Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), raccoons (Procyon lotor), and both Red (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) and Gray (Sciurus carolinensis) squirrels also make their rounds, and I eagerly visit the window each morning just before dawn to see who is out munching.
About a week ago, I learned of a new visitor – a Meadow Vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus), (which I first mistook to be a very pretty rat).
The vole, like the birds, is taking advantage of my carefully selected feeding station. Not only is it near the window for me to see, but I have also placed a large piece of Silver maple deadfall (from a summer windstorm) beneath this tree. It’s near our woodpile, and the many naked branches and wood stacks provide protection to the birds from hawks and other predators (it’s important to offer protection when you decide to feed wildlife).
Fortunately, the owl is very patient. I watched for a half hour while the owl quietly observed the vole munching and skittering among the dead limbs on the ground. Eventually, I was drawn away from the window, but I secretly hope that the owl didn’t get its dinner this morning, so I might get the chance to see it again tonight!
I doubt I can get a picture for you without disturbing the owl, but I will try! In lieu of my own images to share...
Paul Beiser has some wonderful pictures of a Great Horned Owl at his website.
Also, over at Mike’s Birding and Digiscoping blog, you can see some serious owl-on-owl whoopass.
Laura's Birder Blog has a gallery of Great Horned Owl pictures from a nature center.
And at Birding in Maine, John and Sharon Briggs share their recent encounter with the Great Horned Owl.
With the exception of the occasional flurry, this is our first snow of the winter season, which started just minutes ago! I can’t believe that during my first year away from Seattle, that I would miss all the outstanding rain, wind, snow, and storm that they’ve been seeing this season. Harumph!
The tree in the background of this image is one of the big Eastern white pines next to our home. C’mon snow! Let's see some accumulation!
Greetings and welcome to Arboreality, home of the tree blog. Arboreality is a blog about trees, forests, and wood, and everything in between. Join me to enjoy some of my day-to-day arboreal encounters.
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