Green
The world (at least this part of it) has turned green. It’s been a lovely spring. It’s getting quite hot today and summer is basically upon us.
Tagged With: Trees
Editing Exercise
Editing Exercise
I was dropping Dorothy and Chris off for band practice and Chris suggested this tree as a photo subject. Unfortunately, there was a basketball hoop in front of it. So, the exercise was to remove the basketball hoop (and a bench, as well) and make it look natural. Did I succeed?
Ailanthus Leaf
Ailanthus Leaf
This tree has already put on four feet of growth this year. Is it any wonder they are so successful in the environment? It has pretty leaves, though.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Ailanthus, Ailanthus Leaf, Leaves, Tree, Trees
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Fall Color
Fall Color
It was a busy day at work today (it’s going to be that way for a while) so I didn’t get a chance to go out and take pictures. I took this picture of fall color on the way home, though. There is still a lot of green out there but it’s getting really pretty.
Brookgreen Gardens and Lowcountry Zoo
Live Oak (Quercus virginiana)
A bunch of us went to Brookgreen Gardens today. Seth, Iris, and Tsai-Hong stayed until about 1:00 before moving on to the lowcountry zoon and then headed back to the beach. Cathy, Dorothy, Jonathan, Dot, and I had lunch and then did a bit more walking in the gardens before hitting the zoo. I took a lot of pictures of sculpture and a few of dragonflies and grasshoppers (the huge eastern lubber grasshopper, Romalea microptera). I really enjoy both the sculpture and the setting. It was hot today but not really hot by South Carolina in August standards. In the shade it was actually pretty pleasant. This first picture is of my favorite tree at Brookgreen gardens. It is in the corner of the Palmetto Garden and really is part of the Live Oak Allée that’s just across the wall. I think it’s magnificent.
Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)
Of course we also went to the lowcountry zoo where we saw black-crowned night-herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) as well as a few egrets and an ibis. The otters were very active and we enjoyed watching them swim around for a while. It was actually feeding time at the alligator pond but the alligator we saw must be well fed because he was pretty blasé about the whole thing.
After leaving Brookgreen, we drove to Murrill’s Inlet for an early dinner at Nance’s. Dorothy, Jonathan, and I shared a half bushel of steamed oysters while mom had soft-shell crab and Cathy had a crab cake.
Categories: Creatures, Flowers and Plants, Travel
Tags: Birds, Heron, Live Oak, Night Heron, South Carolina, Spanish Moss, Trees
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Sassafras Mittens
Sassafras Leaves
As of last week I have a daily meeting in another building. I’m sure there will be days when I won’t want to walk over there (if it’s raining, for instance) but so far we’ve had good enough weather that I’ve gone each day. Some days I’ve brought my camera with me and taken a little time on the way back to get some pictures. Today was such a day. Most trees are still in their summer greens but a few have begun the process of changing to their brief autumn finery. This sassafras tree (Sassafras albidum) is such a one. Because September was so dry, we’re expecting a less colorful fall this year. Pity.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Autumn, Red, Sassafras, Trees
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Ailanthus altissima (Tree of Heaven) Leaves
Ailanthus altissima (Tree of Heaven) Leaves
I walked around my building around mid-day today, taking a few pictures. Most trees are starting to realize that it’s autumn, although this year it looks like there will be a lot more yellow and brown and less red and orange. Some trees haven’t gotten the memo yet, though, like this Ailanthus altissima (Tree of Heaven), whose leaves are still their summer green. It’s a weed tree around here, growing up anywhere there is unused space, often quickly outgrowing other trees. It gets quite large. According to the Missouri Botanical Garden’s web site, it was introduced from its native China into New York City in 1820 as a street tree and food source for silkworm caterpillars.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Green, Leaves, Trees
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Sycamore Bark
Sycamore Bark
One of the most easily identified trees in the forests of the eastern United States is the American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis). Even from a distance, it’s easy to pick out the sycamore by it’s white bark. There are places along the highways in the area, particularly where the road goes over river or stream valleys, where they are quite the most numerous tree. They grow very well in wet floodplains and of course they get quite large, often reaching 80 or more feet in height and trees with a trunk diameter in excess of four feet are not particularly uncommon. In addition to the white bark on the upper portions of the tree, lower down, where the branches are trunk are thicker, the brown outer bark peels away in a very distinctive way, as seen in this photograph of a tree probably not more than 15 or at most 20 years old.
In 1981 my parents and brothers spent eight weeks backpacking around Greece. We had spent a week there in 1971 and my mom started planning then to return. On this longer trip in 1981 we were in Crete (twice, actually) and happened to find this old plane tree.
Dot and Bob at the Old Plane Tree, Krási, Crete, 2007
The London plain tree is a cross between the American sycamore and Oriental plane tree, P. orientalis. In 2007, Cathy, Dorothy, and I went to Greece with my mom and dad for about three weeks of camping. We were able to find this tree again, in Krási. It is claimed to be the oldest and largest plain tree in the world. I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s certainly big, with a trunk circumference of nearly 80 feet. As you can see, it isn’t exactly a perfect cylindrical trunk, and the tree isn’t nearly as tall as many American sycamores that I’ve come across. Still, it’s a mighty fine specimen.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Bark, Platanus, Platanus occidentalis, Sycamore, Trees
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Maple Tree and Leaves
Maple Tree and Leaves
It’s been something of a maple-centric autumn this year. There are other trees showing good color but, as I think I mentioned previously, not a lot in our yard. This is a picture of the two maple trees behind our house. Both of them are actually double-trunks and I’m not sure if they are two trees each or single trees with two trunks. Either way, they are not particularly attractive as specimen trees. They both twist a bit and have broken and misshapen branches. This fall, though, they are doing their best to make up for it with their colors. The nearer tree in this picture, in particular, is really spectacular this year. It’s the tree that gets more direct sun and that contributes to the color.
The leaves on the ground add, I think, to the overall effect of the tree right now. It won’t be long before the leaves have all turned brown and we’ll need to get them dealt with, which we usually do by simply by mowing over them a few times, turning them into mulch in the lawn.
Lake Needwood Wood
The Woods At Lake Needwood
I’m a fan of the woods. I love the colors, the sounds, and the smells. I won’t say there’s nothing I don’t like about woods but in general I’d say the things I like outweigh the things I don’t like. Of course, I’m happy that I live in a modern house with running water, central heating and air conditioning, a roof to keep off the rain, and electricity and gas to power all sorts of appliances. I do like a walk in the woods, though. In the autumn, with the colors in the trees, it is especially nice. A rainy day, practically any time of year but particularly in the spring when the leaves are various shades of green is also a wonderful time for a walk in the woods. But today was glorious and bright and cool.
Oak Leaf
Oak Leaf
I started walking across campus to an 11:30 meeting this morning but got a phone call while I was on my way, saying the meeting had been cancelled. At it happened, I had brought my camera with me so I walked back the long way, going through the woods and taking a few pictures. I got some of the yellow fruit on what we call “Cathy’s Hawthorn” (because she parks next to it most days). In the woods I came across an oak tree with beautiful leaves. The oaks haven’t been as spectacular, overall, as in some years, but there are individual trees that are worth noticing. I also love the lines of veins in the leaf, which are still visible in the partially eaten bits.
Unofficially, this is my 2,500th consecutive day of taking a picture. I officially started on January 1, 2011, so the official 2,500th day will be in three days. Nevertheless, I had taken pictures on the three days prior to my official start, so today marks 2,500 days.
Confused Cherry Tree
Cherry Blossoms
For the last few days I’ve noticed this cherry tree in bloom. I’m afraid it’s been terribly confused by the mild fall we’ve been having and it’s going to be mightily disappointed when it gets colder rather than warmer. Well, it won’t actually be conscious of the weather. It’s just a tree. But I think it unlikely any fruit will come of this out-of-season blooming. Nevertheless, it’s a pretty little tree and gives me something to think about on an otherwise unremarkable commute. For a few days I’ve been meaning to stop to take pictures and today I did. Enjoy.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Blooms, Cherry, Pink, Trees
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Zelkovas on Norbeck
Zelkova serrata
Every year I get to enjoy the three lines of Zelkova serrata planted on either side and in the median of Norbeck Road between Rocking Spring Drive and Westbury Road. Other parts of Norbeck have Bradford pears, and they are nice in their seasons but are not, in my mind, nearly as impressive as the Zelkovas in their autumn orangeness. Some years it seems more rust colored but this year it’s a brilliant orange. They are particularly nice on overcast days but beggars can’t be choosers and I’ll take them as they come. I stopped on the way home and took a few dozen pictures, waiting for breaks in the traffic so as not to get run over.
Beech Leaves, Lake Frank
Beech Leaves, Lake Frank
It was a quite beautiful, late fall day today and some of us went on a walk around Lake Frank. We started and ended at Flower Valley Park on Hornbeam so we were starting a fair way from the lake. In total we walked about 4.75 miles but by the time I was thinking we might turn back we were about half the way around and there wasn’t much point. In addition to family on the walk were two old friends, by which I mean friends I’ve known for a long time, not that they are particularly old. It was good to get caught up on their families and lives. I really need to make more of an effort to keep up with people, but day to day life seems to get in the way.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Autumn, Beech, Lake Frank, Trees
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Sunset Through The Woods
Sunset Through The Woods
The other day as I was leaving work there was a beautiful sunset but it was obscured by the woods along the edge of my office parking lot. I thought that if I hurried, I could get to the other side of the woods and get a good picture before it was gone. I was wrong. I wasn’t half way there before the color was all gone from the sky. So, when I saw some good color through the trees I didn’t bother trying to get around the trees. If I had, I’d have been disappointed again. Instead I just took a few pictures through the trees. It’s maybe a little less spectacular than if I had been on the other side, but it’s certainly better than no trees and no sunset colors. We take what we can get.
Life’s A Beech
American Beech Leaves
I love beech trees in the winter. They hold their leaves which turn a beautiful, copper brown. They are especially nice against all the grey of a normal winter woodland and with the sun shining on and through them they are particularly nice. I’ve had a few pictures of beech leaves in the fog, which is also magical, but today was sunny and they were glowing in the sun. It’s been something of a crazy winter so far, with temperatures down around zero (Fahrenheit) and then up into the 60s. We have had a few minor snows but nothing of any great depth. Also, they have come when it was cold enough that it was easily swept off the sidewalk instead of needing to be shoveled. But there’s a lot of winter yet, so you never know.
Sycamore Leaf
Sycamore Leaf
It was a beautiful day and I went out into the woods for a little while during lunch time. There was ice on a drainage pond in the woods near my building but in the sun it was quite pleasant. I got down onto the ground and took some pictures of this sycamore leaf (American sycamore, Platanus occidentalis). They are large and heavy and really pretty with the sun shining through them. I also found a small deer antler that had been shed. It was only six or seven inches long and had no forks, but I picked it up to keep, anyway.
Tree Tops
Tree Tops
It’s been wintry again, which is alright by me, especially seeing as how it’s winter. Our winters are relatively mild compared to some but colder than others, which is sort of what living in a temperate climate is all about, I guess. I pretty much stayed in my office today, with a brief walk across campus and back for a meeting. Other than that I was focused on the task at hand. I took a short break in the early afternoon to take a few pictures but didn’t leave my office to do it. This is the top of a fairly large elm tree on the side of our parking lot. There are two of them that have managed to hold out against Dutch Elm Disease and this is the smaller of the two. They’re likely to go at some point but I’ll enjoy them until that day comes.
Categories: Flowers and Plants, Sunrise/Sunset/Sky
Tags: Blue, Clouds, Sky, Trees
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Rainy, Foggy Morning
Rainy, Foggy Morning
It started raining yesterday morning and it’s been raining fairly steadily since. The forecast has that continuing another 24 hours or so before it clears up. It is, however, unseasonably warm. It was cool this morning but later in the day, even with the rain, it was up around 60°F (16°C). The cool morning, however, meant some beautiful fog. I love a foggy morning (or day, night, or evening, for that matter). I especially love being in the woods when it’s foggy. This morning, as usual for a Sunday, I was at church setting up and running the sound system. Nevertheless, I took a short break while the musicians were practicing to walk around outside and take a few pictures.
Snow Squall
Snow Squall
The forecast was for snow today. It’s been in the upper 40s and even the low 50s lately, so I wasn’t really expecting it to amount to much. In the morning it was overcast but no precipitation. Cooler but still just above freezing. At about 2:00 PM it started snowing and by 3:00, when this picture was taken, it was coming down fairly hard. We probably got about 2 inches in all, but it was pretty wet and not what I’d call winter wonderland type snow. Still, the falling snow was pretty against the bare trees and the copper colored Japanese maple leaves in our neighbor’s yard.
Star Magnolia (Magnolia stellata)
Star Magnolia (Magnolia stellata)
Eight days ago (see Friday, March 23, 2018) I posted a picture of a star magnolia (Magnolia stellata) bud. I commented that the petals were slightly burned by the cold but that in about a week or so the flowers should be open and if there is not another serious frost, they would look wonderful. Well, we haven’t had another significant frost and the tree does, indeed, look great. You can see a little burning on the tip of a petal or two but overall, they don’t look at all bad. It was an absolutely beautiful Saturday with a rich, blue sky and the star magnolia petals, mostly white touched with pink, were lovely.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Blooms, Flowering Trees, Magnolia, Magnolia stellata, Pink, Spring, Star Magnolia, Trees
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Omar Bradley Oak
Omar Bradley Oak
The family traveled to Pennsylvania today. It’s always good to get everyone together but today was a mixture of joy and sadness. Joy because we were with family, outdoors on a cool day in May. Sad because we came to bury Albert’s ashes. We decided that it would be appropriate to bury them under this large tree, a North American white oak (Quercus alba, not to be confused with the English white or common oak, Q. robur). Based on its circumference, estimates of its age range from about 250 to over 300 years, although we’ve never had it actually dated with a core sample. We’ll just continue to assert it predates the American Revolution.
We used to have a tire swing on this tree and in the 1960s we camped near by in the field that later came to be called the Christmas Tree Field. It’s now difficult to see where the woods ended and the field began, as it’s all pretty much grown up with trees, although there is still a wood duck house on a tree that’s near what was the edge of the field. After we started camping in what is now the yard, we didn’t get over to the tree quite as often.
As for the name of the tree, that was given by some neighbors shortly after the death in 1981 of General Omar Bradley. There is, in some circles, a tradition of naming large oaks after generals and when one of the neighbors mentioned the name to dad, he liked it and it’s pretty much stuck. It’s all very unofficial, of course and this tree is just in the woods on our property, not in a park or other public place. Omar Bradley was the last of nine five-star officers in the US military, having been promoted to General of the Army in September, 1950. Only George Washington and John Pershing, Generals of the Armies (plural) have ranked higher than the nine five-star officers.
Categories: Flowers and Plants, People
Tags: Albert, Oak, Omar Bradley Oak, Pennsylvania, Trees, Woods
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Tree Felling
Felled Colorado Spruce
I finally got around to cutting down the dead or nearly dead Colorado spruce (Picea pungens) in our front yard today. I took both before and after pictures and I may put two together into an animated sequence that switches back and forth between the before and after. For now, this is (obviously) the “after” picture. I cut the tree off fairly far up the trunk to be sure it wouldn’t reach the driveway. I could probably have cut it a bit lower and it would have been easier, but I got it down without incident. Since then (I’m writing this on Wednesday, October 11) we’ve cut and dealt with most of the branches although the standing trunk is still there and about 8 feet of felled trunk is still lying next to it. I took one van load to the dump and I’ve burned four wheel barrow loads. I still haven’t decided what I’ll plant in its place or even how much effort I’ll put into dealing with the stump and roots.
Categories: Miscellaneous
Tags: Colorado Spruce, Home, Picea, Picea pungens, Spruce, Tree, Trees, Yard
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Zelkova Trees
Zelkova Trees
Getting pictures of the Zelkova trees that line Norbeck Road is sort of an annual thing for me. As I was driving east this evening I knew the light would be nice and with the bright blue sky and the scattered clouds, it seemed like an ideal day for it. I stopped at the grocery store but the light was still right when I was done, so I pulled off where the trees start and got out to take a dozen or so pictures. One thing that makes it hard is the contrast between the shady parts of the picture and the brightly lit leaves in the sun. But that’s part of what I like. They aren’t as fully in color as in previous years, but they’re pretty nice, nonetheless.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Autumn, Fall Color, Tree, Trees, Zelkova
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Japanese Maples
Japanese Maples
I’ve photographed these particular Japanese maples before. They are at the other end of the neighborhood and they have just about the most beautiful fall color of any trees I know. Individually they are lively but in combination they are spectacular. The near tree, on the left in this photo, is nearly red, with orange undertones. The farther tree is more orange and lighter and brighter. There is also a third Japanese maple on the right, further away still. That one is a deep burgundy color. I think this photo is improved by the small amount of gree from the azaleas in the foreground. I took quite a few pictures this morning and I like most of them. A woman walking her dog passed me and we agreed that these trees were special.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Acer, Acer palmatum, Autumn, Fall Color, Japanese Maples, Leaves, Orange, Red, Trees
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Dogwood
Dogwood
There’s an old joke that you can easily identify dogwood by its bark but you can also spot them this time of year by the color of their leaves. The deep, burgundy color really stands out, particularly against the much more common yellow of many of our other native trees. The oaks tend to be dark orange or rusty reds. The maples range in color from bright red (as in the Japanese maples seen in yesterday’s post) to pure, electric yellow. It’s really a lovely time of year and unfortunately seems to be the shortest of the seasons. The rain last night knocked down a lot of leaves and the forecast for the coming week is for a lot more rain, so by this time next week, it may only be the oaks and beeches holding onto their drying leaves.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Autumn, Dogwood, Fall Color, Leaves, Red, Tree, Trees
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Japanese Maples
Japanese Maples
Just over two weeks ago (on Friday, November 02, 2018) I posted a picture of Japanese maples from the other end of our neighborhood. I mentioned a week or so later that most of the leaves were down from those trees. Not all the leaves, however. We were driving home past that yard this afternoon about about 3:00 and the light was shining through the remainder of the leaves on one of the trees (the other trees in the yard are basically bare). This one tree was still amazing and I stopped to take a few pictures. A man stopped and said, “you should have seen the trees a couple weeks ago.” I said I know, they were amazing.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Acer, Autumn, Fall Color, Japanese Maples, Maple, Red, Tree, Trees
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Airplanes At Dusk
Airplanes At Dusk
I’m afraid today’s photo is pretty lame. I looked out the back door and there were two bright airplane contrails just above the trees, heading west toward the setting sun as the sky darkened with dusk. I thought it would make a half decent photo for today. Unfortunately, by the time I got my camera from the next room, switched to the 100mm from the 24mm and returned ti the kitchen door, the planes were down into the trees. It wasn’t ever going to be a great photo but I think it’s worse than I hoped. So, the only thing accomplished by taking this is that I kept up my photo-a-day streak. For what little that’s worth.
Japanese Maple Leaves
Japanese Maple Leaves
We went for a short walk in the woods after church today. The church is near enough to Rock Creek Park that we can get there pretty easily from the back parking lot. The sky was clear today, which was very welcome after yesterday’s torrential rain. The sun was shining brightly on some Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) leaves and I took a few pictures of the back-lit leaves. None of them turned out quite as well as I would have liked, but this one is pretty nice. I really love the colors and the contrast between the leaves and the blue from the sky, filtering through the trunks of the trees.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Acer, Acer palmatum, Autumn, Fall Color, Maple, Orange, Tree, Trees
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Trees
Trees
Driving home today, traffic was quite heavy and I had to stop a number of times as I approached the bridge over Rock Creek. I took a few pictures of the woods out my passenger side window as I waited and that’s what today’s photo is. In the past I’ve taken pictures along here on cold, foggy, winter evenings and I’ve been quite pleased with them. This one is a bit ordinary by comparison. Still, the copper color of the beech leaves and the grey of the tree trunks is nice. I didn’t have a lot of options as to where I’d be stopping so my choice of shooting locations was dictated to me by the flow of traffic. This is generally the worst part of our commute. It’s better than it was before the ICC (i.e. MD 200) was built, but it still backs up because of the poor timing of the traffic lights ahead.
Lake Needwood
Lake Needwood
Cathy and I went for a walk on Lake Needwood after church today. It was overcast but pleasant and we walked part way around the lake. I took this picture from near the boat house at the southeast part of the lake, looking north, more of less. The trees are bare and with the overcast sky, they looked particularly stark and gloomy. That’s not to say they aren’t beautiful, though. I think they look pretty nice. The water was quite still, also, which added to the mood.
For the few of you who follow me here, I apologize for the brief hiatus. My main workstation has four hard drives (including a relatively small boot SSD). Two of them, one 5TB and the other 6TB are dedicated to photographs. Unfortunately, I have a lot of photographs and they two drives are full. That kept me from being able to “process” my photographs for about 10 days (not that I rushed to rectify that matter, of course). I ordered another 6TB drive so I should be set for a while now.
Categories: Miscellaneous
Tags: HDR, Lake, Lake Needwood, Trees, Water, Winter
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Sunset
Sunset
Another sunset photo today. I’ve been leaving work around the sunset hour lately (or later but getting sunset pictures from my office or from a conference room one floor up. There isn’t anything particularly special about this sunset but it’s the best of the few pictures I took today. I’m nearing 2,900 consecutive days (and 8 yeas) taking at least one photograph each day. I think one or possibly two of those days the photo was taken on my phone but the rest were taken on my Canon SLR. In that time I have taken over 160,000 photos, which is starting to get up there. A few of them are, I think, quite good.
Black Rock Mill
Seneca Creek
This morning, when I went to take pictures off my camera’s memory card, it started with December 25. The last pictures on my computer had been from December 23 and for a little while I worried that I hadn’t taken any on the 24th. That wouldn’t have been the end of the world, of course, but I’ve gone nearly eight years taking at least one picture a day and I was upset to think that I might have missed a day. It turns out that the script I use to copy files started in the wrong place for some reason and I had pictures from the 24th (which I thought was the case).
I worked on Monday and again yesterday but today I decided to take the day off. Dorothy and I went to the Lancaster County Dutch Market in Germantown and then to Black Rock Mill, on Seneca Creek.
Seneca Creek
The first picture is looking downstream from the the banks of the creek, standing just below the mill. As you can see, it was a beautiful, cool day. The second picture is just a small bit of rapids in the creek. I think it’s a pretty picture and I love the colors of the water, as they tumble over a few small rocks. I took a few pictures of the mill, as well, and if you’ve never been there, it’s an interesting piece of history. There isn’t a lot to see, but the mill stone and some of the large gears are still there inside the building, which is otherwise basically an empty shell.
Categories: Miscellaneous
Tags: Black Rock Mill, Creek, History, Mill, Seneca Creek, Trees, Water
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American Sycamore
American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)
Cathy and I took a walk in the neighborhood this afternoon. It was cool but the sky was an amazing blue and I stopped a few times to take pictures of trees against that blue. There are few that are prettier in the winter than the pale sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) against that blue and that’s what we have here. Just before I took this picture, we passed a yard with a large oak tree that had a fairly substantial branch which had broken off and which was suspended above the driveway and yard on some lower branches. The homeowner was trying to get a rope over the branch so he could pull it down. He was wearing a helmet and throwing a rope with a wrench tied to the end as a weight. It was pretty high up and by the time we got past he still hadn’t managed to get it high enough, but I assume he eventually did. Ah, the joys of home ownership.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Bark, Blue, Platanus, Platanus occidentalis, Sky, Sycamore, Tree, Trees
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Snow In The Trees
Snow In The Trees
We had our first real snow of 2019 starting early yesterday afternoon. It showed a bit earlier in the week but didn’t accumulate at all. This time we ended up with about six inches on the ground this morning. It was a few degrees below freezing and the snow was quite pretty, although it was fairly heavy when I shoveled it off of the walk and driveway. This is a view up into the trees in our neighborhood and I really love the lines of dark bark and the white snow. We were out yesterday evening driving in it, which wasn’t a lot of fun, but it meant that we got to see our good friend, Karlee, so it was well worth it. Today we’re pretty much sticking around the house. Hopefully the roads will be clear by tomorrow, when Dorothy plans to leave for school. There wasn’t much snow north of here, so the majority of her trip shouldn’t be affected, in any case.
Hamamelis (Witch Hazel)
Hamamelis (Witch Hazel)
I’m a huge fan of witch hazel (Hamamelis species). They’re small trees well suited to the suburban landscape and wonder of wonder, they bloom in mid-winter! Many years ago my father, Cathy, and I went to Brookside Gardens in Wheaton Regional Park in February and I remember falling in love with witch hazel at that time. Now whenever I see them in bloom, I remember my dad and remind myself that this is a tree I want to plant in my yard. Now that I have a space in the front yard that needs a small tree, this may be the spring when one gets planted. There are varieties with red, orange, and yellow flowers and I think all of them are terrific. The yellow, perhaps, stands out as being the brightest but they’re all worth the effort.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Blooms, Flowers, Hamamelis, Red, Small Trees, Tree, Trees, Winter, Winter Blooms, Witch Hazel
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Calocedrus decurrens (Incense Cedar)
Calocedrus decurrens (Incense Cedar)
I’m a little late posting this but after yesterday’s snow squall, we had a nice cover of maybe as much as two inches of snow this morning. It was quite cool, down around 10°F (-12°C) and I put some salt down but being that cold, it’s not going to melt very much. I took some pictures in the yard before Cathy and I left for work. The sun was bright and was shining through the branches of trees that had some ice on them, which was lovely but hard to record very well. I decided to post this photo of snow on the branches of an Incense Cedar (Calocedrus decurrens) that is in the back of our yard. I planted four of them in the fall of 2007 and three survived. This is the tallest of them and is about 15 feet tall, I’d say. It’s starting to look like a real tree. The other two are doing fine but are not as tall, being about 12 and 7 feet tall respectively.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Calocedrus, Calocedrus decurrens, Conifer, Green, Incense Cedar, Snow, Tree, Trees, Winter
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Deodar “Flowers”
Deodar “Flowers”
These aren’t flowers, of course, as the deodar cedar (Cedrus deodara) being a gymnosperm is a non-flowering plant (the angiosperms are the flowering plants). These are the cones of a deodar cedar growing near one of the buildings on our company campus. It’s getting to be a fair size tree, with branches large enough to sit on comfortably. My grandparent’s had a deodar in their front yard in North Carolina and I’ve always been fond of them, especially when they get a little larger and start to develop their characteristic cedar shape rather than the more conical shape of the younger trees. They are native to the Himalayas and we’re near the northern edge of their hardiness range but there are enough around that it seems safe to plant one, if you have the space (which most suburban yards definitely do not have).
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Cedar, Cedrus, Cedrus deodara, Cones, Conifer, Deodar, Deodar Cedar, Tree, Trees
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Beech Woods and Stream
Beech Woods and Stream
It was cool but nice out today but we were indoors for most of the day. In the late afternoon I really wanted to get outdoors, at least for a little,and take a picture or two. We often walk around the block but I didn’t really want to do that. There generally isn’t much to photograph, especially this time of year, unless I’m willing to walk up into peoples’ yards and possibly lie on the ground. That’s not really my style. I suggested we drive to the other end of the neighborhood, park at the park, and walk a little ways in the woods. We went down stream to where there are two bridges crossing the streams and then back up the other side. The woods are mostly American beech (
Categories: Miscellaneous
Tags: American Beech, Beech, Fagus, Fagus grandifolia, Tree, Trees, Winter, Woods
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Sunrise
Sunrise
I happened to notice the color coming in the front windows this morning so I grabbed my camera and went out front to get a few pictures. There’s not a good, unobstructed view to the east without walking a little ways and since it was only aboutg 25°F (-4°C) and I was barefoot, I wasn’t going to go too far or stay out too long. I did walk onto the lawn, which has been wet and which is now nicely frozen. That’s somehow colder than the ramp or the pavement of the driveway. It was certainly worth going out for, especially seeing as how I was up. The color only lasted about ten minutes and it was gone. Another ephemeral sunrise.
Waxing Gibbous Moon
Waxing Gibbous Moon
Cathy and I worked most of the day moving things around in our house. One room that has become a catch-all for boxes and miscellaneous bric-a-brac is our guest bedroom. However, Cathy’s cousin and his wife are coming this week so we sort of need to clear it out. It’s high time we did, so that’s fine. We were able to get rid of a few things, mostly things that were not worth even donating, but mostly we just organized and moved things around. The more thorough going through is yet to be done. I did go out briefly to take four boxes of books as a donation for resale and got rid of a half dozen empty boxes that we no longer need. In the afternoon I took some pictures in the yard but none of them are anything to write home about. The moon was pretty, though, so I thought I’d post that for today’s picture.
Categories: Sunrise/Sunset/Sky
Tags: Gibbous Moon, Moon, Sky, Trees, Waxing Gibbous Moon, Winter
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Rockville Cemetery
Rockville Cemetery
I stopped at Rockville Cemetery on the way home today. With the weather turning warmer (relatively) and the sun out, it’s very tempting to be outdoors as much as possible. My job, of course, keeps me inside most of the time and it’s been fairly busy lately, with lots of revisions and bug fixes. That’s meant that I haven’t been out during the day too often. With the time change it’s light later in the day and that gives me more of a chance to get out after work.
Rockville Cemetery, on Old Baltimore Road, is a nice, relatively quiet place. The eponym of my high school alma mater is buried there. The graves of Walter Johnson and his wife Hazel are in a very shady spot under a pair of mature spruce trees. Generally it’s hard to get a good picture of them because it’s so shady but when I was there today the sun was slanting under the trees’ lower branches and lighting up the grave markers. This photo is from another part of the cemetery, though. I really love big, old, white oaks (Quercus alba) and this is a nice specimen.
Categories: Miscellaneous
Tags: Cemetery, Grave Yard, Graves, Graveyard, Monochrome, Oak, Trees
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Flowering Oaks
Flowering Oaks
There are trees we generally think of as flowering trees, such as dogwoods, cherries, and crab apples. But of course, most non-coniferous trees bloom, even if that’s not why we grow them. Out neighborhood has street trees planted pretty much throughout with different streets and different sections having different tree species but mostly planted with the neighborhood was developed in the late 1960s. Our area has mostly red oaks and at nearly 50 years old, they are generally pretty good size. Oaks are among those not usually grown for their showy flowers. Nevertheless, when they are in full bloom, particularly on a clear day in contrast with the blue sky, they are quite dramatic. Of course, the pollen is everywhere and if you have allergies, you aren’t enjoying this. But it can be beautiful.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Flowering Trees, Oak, Pollen, Red Oak, Spring, Tree, Trees, Yellow
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Maple Samaras
Maple Samaras
It’s that time of the year when the maple trees let loose thousands upon thousands of “helicopters” (a.k.a. samaras). They’ll be thick on the lawn and patio and front walk. Not as thick as they once were, because we have fewer maple trees than we did, but still quite a lot. Then they will start growing. In the lawn, the first time the grass is cut, they’ll be taken care of. In the garden beds they need to be pulled up.
My Friend Jack
Colorado Spruce Stump
Have you met my friend, Jack? That’s him in this photo, in the yellow. He’s a stouthearted lad with a lot of strength. Getting this stump out of the ground was not going to be easy, no matter what. Cathy said I should pay someone to do it and maybe she was right. I had dug all around it a few weeks ago and cut the major roots a little way from the trunk. In years past I demonstrated simple machines to second graders, showing them the brilliance of levers and pulleys. It would have been silly of me to try to get this stump out using brute strength (to say nothing of the fact that I don’t have anything like enough brute strength for the job).
On Saturday I went back to work on it, working smarter and not harder. I dug a hole under the largest root and put my hydraulic jack under it. With various pieces of stump under the jack, I was able to work that end up. Then I started moving around. This evening I got the last side up and sawed the last of the roots that was holding it down. The whole thing is pretty heavy but I was able to get it up on its side. I couldn’t have done it without my good friend, Jack.
Quercus robur ‘Fastigiata’
Quercus robur ‘Fastigiata’
In 2013 I bought some fastigiate oaks from Musser Forests (http://www.musserforests.com/). Fastigiate is from Latin and means narrowing toward the top and when applied to trees, having upright usually clustered branches. Trees that have a more narrow form are often called fastigiate and these oaks are actually named Quercus robur ‘Fastigiata’. The English oak is a pretty tree, especially when it gets large, but it can be a bit much for a suburban garden, needing a huge space to be grown to full advantage. These narrow trees, however, should do reasonably well here. They are not quite as hardy as the species but I’ve seen them growing in the district and there is a huge one only a few blocks away, so I’m hopeful. I have them growing in two parts of the yard, one on the north end of the yard and one along the back (west side). Planted in 2013, they are already more than 10 feet tall, and growing quite quickly.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: English Oak, European Oak, Fastigiate, Green, Leaves, Oak, Pedunculate Oak, Quercus, Quercus robur, Tree, Trees, White Oak
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Walnut Bark
Walnut Bark
It was a pretty day today. The weather has finally turned cool and it’s clearly autumn now. The leaves on the trees are still mostly green but there are occasional splashes of color from early maples or some of the smaller plants that tend to react more quickly to the changing seasons. Outside my office window, the Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) is a deep red, climbing up into two large elms and the other trees on the edge of the woods. Cathy and I met at a picnic table briefly early in the afternoon and then I walked in the woods and took a few pictures, including this one of the bark of a black walnut tree (Juglans nigra).
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Bark, Juglandaceae, Juglans, Juglans nigra, Native Plants, Tree, Trees, Walnut Bark
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Tongass National Forest
Tongass National Forest
One of my favorite hikes around Juneau is on the western extremity of Douglas Island. back in the 1980s there was a trail through woods, across muskeg, and to the shore. There is now a much shorter loop trail called the Rain Forest Trail that we took today. While I like the longer, older trail better, we didn’t have a huge amount of time to spend and it was also fairly wet as we drove out, with rain softly falling. You shouldn’t get the impression that the shorter trail isn’t very nice, because it’s actually wonderful. I took quite a few photos both in the woods and on the shore. This one is of a small pond just into the woods as we headed back on the southern part of the loop. The light in the woods is quite difficult, with fairly low light levels along with a very bright sky showing through. I’m pretty pleased with how this one turned out.
Categories: Travel
Tags: Alaska Trip 2019, Douglas Island, False Outer Point, Juneau, Juneau Alaska, Rain Forest, Tongass National Forest, Trees
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Skeletal Trees
Skeletal Trees
As I came out of my office this evening, the clouds in the darkening western sky was back lit with areas of brighter light. All that was behind the trees that line my parking lot. It had a somber and even sinister look and I decided I’d take a few pictures. The exposure was a bit tricky and I didn’t have a tripod, but I braces the camera on a tree and it turned out well enough. It was a mood and I think I captured it pretty well. The parking lot was pretty empty by the time I left work. It’s Thanksgiving Day tomorrow, and somber and sinister really doesn’t go well with that. Nevertheless, it’s how I was feeling when I left work. I’m not sure what that means.
Categories: Sunrise/Sunset/Sky
Tags: Clouds, Dusk, Skeletal Trees, Sky, Trees, Winter
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Tulip Poplars
Tulip Poplars
Cathy, Dorothy, and I went to Seneca Creek State Park this afternoon and walked just short of 3 miles in the woods. It was a cool but pretty day with deep blue skies. The woods are predominated by tulip poplars (Liriodendron tulipifera) with a significant number of other deciduous trees including oaks, maples, beeches, and various smaller trees. I think the fact that they grow so quickly accounts for their numbers, as they outgrow the slower growing but longer lived hardwoods. Eventually, the oaks, maples, and beeches will outlive this first growth of poplars and it will all even out or even lean towards the others. But for now, the wood is filled with the straight trunks of the tulip poplar.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Liriodendron, Liriodendron tulipifera, Native Plants, Tree, Trees, Tulip Poplar, Woods
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Maple Blossoms
Maple Blossoms
We happened to be in northern Virginia this afternoon to meet some friends for brunch. We got there a little early so we walked in a park near the restaurant and I took some pictures of three different plants that are in bloom. First, and seen here, are maple blossoms. I think this is a silver maple (Acer saccharinum) but I didn’t take the time to identify it carefully. I’m pretty sure it isn’t red maple (Acer rubrum) but it could be a sugar maple (Acer saccharum) or a number of other species. It’s a bit early even for the early trees to be blooming but it’s been such a mild winter so far, I’m not terribly surprised. It may get cold yet, of course. It’s still only mid November.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Acer, Blooms, Flowers, Maple, Native Plants, Spring, Trees
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Rainy Day
Rainy Day
After a week of mostly beautiful weather, today was grey and rainy. It was nice to be home from the office, meaning I didn’t go into the basement much, but mostly I just read and dozed and did this and that all day. I did go out in the evening to take a few pictures but there wasn’t much to see and I didn’t feel like walking around in the wet to find something more interesting. This is the view to the southeast from the front of our house, looking past a few large oaks to more trees at the end of the block. The maples are mostly in bloom, which accounts for the rusty red shades. The oaks will be out soon, adding a bit of yellow and then everything will be dusted heavily with pollen.
Trees by Lake Frank
Trees by Lake Frank
Cathy and I took a walk by Lake Frank this afternoon. With the weather turning cooler and of course with work during almost all the daylight hours, it’s really important to make a point to get outside when we can. On our walk, I took pictures of quite a few fruits on shrubs and vines. There were rose hips, oriental bittersweet, and I think some sort of privet. The water in the lake is a little low, at least by comparison to the last few times we’ve been here, when it was particularly high. The fall color was about at it’s peak or maybe just a little past. Pretty soon, the trees will be mostly bare and winter will be upon us.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Autumn, Fall Color, HDR, Lake Frank, Trees
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Zelkova Alley
Zelkova serrata
We worked in the garage this morning, getting quite a bit done (although if you saw it, you might not believe that). We took a trip to the transfer station (a.k.a. the dump) to get rid of a few things and as we got back, the Zelkova serrata were being lit by the late afternoon sun. I dropped Cathy and her mom off at home and then went back out to take a few pictures. This seems to be an annual photo for me, with versions taken from 2011 through 2019, except 2012, apparently. It’s worth it, though. This is really a nice tunnel of trees all year, but especially now and as the sun is setting.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Autumn, Fall Color, Tree, Trees, Zelkova, Zelkova serrata
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Morning Light
Morning Light
I’ve been doing my weekly grocery shopping early on Sunday mornings or occasionally on Monday. The stores are not quite empty but there are more employees there than customers. This morning, when I got back from the store, the light on the trees up the street was really nice so I grabbed my camera (it’s rarely far from me) and took a few pictures. Later in the day, Cathy and I walked on a trail behind the old Rockville landfill and it was really nice to be outdoors. It was warmer than I expected but an occasional breeze cooled us off. It’s a pretty time of year.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Autumn, Dawn, Fall Color, Morning, Orange, Trees
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The Pond
The Pond
Cathy and I drove up to Pennsylvania today to replace the locks on the cabin. Over the years, the existing locks have been treated pretty shamefully by those wanting (and generally succeeding) to get in. It was bad enough that they had become loose but recently they got so bent that the door couldn’t be opened properly. Anyway, it was nice to get out into the country for a little while and it was a pretty day. We didn’t stay long but we walked around a bit and I took some pictures, such as this one of reflections on the pond.
Categories: Miscellaneous
Tags: Autumn, PA Farm, Pennsylvania, Pond, Reflections, Trees, Water
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Trees at Dusk
Trees at Dusk
I love the colors at dusk. Even when the sky is clear and there’s no clouds for sunset colors to light up, the trees, particularly the trees in autumn, can be just as good a show. It’s hard to catch and I’m not sure I’ve caught it here as well as I’d like, but I think you get the idea. With leaves already turning orange and red, the addition of sunset colors only intensifies them. Even the grey and brown trunks of these oaks turn an autumn hue.
Categories: Flowers and Plants, Sunrise/Sunset/Sky
Tags: Autumn, Dusk, Fall Color, Sunset, Trees
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Farm Skyline in Winter
Farm Skyline in Winter
We didn’t have time for a long walk today but wanted to get out for a while. There’s a loop at the Montgomery County Farm Park the goes around this good-sized corn field and we walked around that. It can be entered from a few different places but we came in on the Upper Rock Creek Trail. We saw quite a few birds, including eastern bluebirds, a blue jay, and lots of crows. We also passed a group on horseback (people, not birds). It was cool and pleasant and good to be outdoors.
Beech Leaves
Beech Leaves
Cathy, Dorothy, and I went for a walk in the local park this afternoon. In the winter I have to look a bit more for things to photograph but there’s generally something if you take the time. There was a time I didn’t care for the fact that some trees keep their dried leaves on until spring but I’ve come to enjoy beech trees, especially when the winter light is shining through them. That’s not the case here, but with the smooth bark of the tree and their nice texture, I still like them. It’s one of our best native trees and they’re very common in the woods. I large beech tree is an impressive sight.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Beech, Beech Leaves, Trees, Winter, Woods
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Evening Light
Evening Light
The hour or so just after sunrise and just before sunset are among the prettiest times of day. The light isn’t always special but when it is, it’s very special. Even a neighborhood scene like this, looking up the street from our house can be beautiful with the late afternoon light on the tops of the trees, turning them a wonderful orange green. This photo doesn’t really capture it completely but if you’ve seen it, then maybe it will be enough to remind you of what it’s like.
Leaning Trees
Leaning Trees
Cathy asked me to look at these trees in our back yard and wondered if they’ve always leaned like that. No, that’s new. There is a hole in the ground to the left of them, but that’s been there since before we moved in, more than 15 years ago. The trees are not straight but they seem at least reasonably healthy. Nevertheless, they have started to lean and their roots are pulling up a large mound of earth. If they were to fall they would not hit the house but it’s quite likely they would hit our back fence. Not the end of the world but it’s a hassle we’d just as soon avoid. So, I called a couple tree services to get estimates.
Of course, the fact that they are part way down will tend to make the estimates a little higher, because of the danger of them falling while they are being worked on. At least the fact that nothing will drop on the house works in our favor. But it’s a bigger job than I can handle safely and the trees really do need to come down.
Stay tuned…
Tree Cutting
Tree Cutting
As mentioned about a week ago (see Tuesday, December 14, 2021), these two trees are leaning and needed to be taken down. I got two quotes which were not vastly different. That made it a little harder to pick the company that would do the work because I couldn’t simply say, “these guys were a lot cheaper.” I basically flipped a coin in my head. The company I picked could do the work fairly soon as they were coming to do some work next door today and could get both that and our work done in the same day. Certainly a plus. I took some photos of the work being done, including 11 pictures taken in the two seconds or so that this branch took to fall to the ground.
Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)
Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)
The common name for our most commonly planted, native dogwood is “flowering dogwood’ (Cornus florida). That’s a little deceptive, since all dogwoods—that is all Cornus species—flower. But that’s what they are called and that’s the one of the things about common names. They have some significant health issues, including dogwood anthracnose, which is fairly serious. They are also susceptible to powdery mildew, leaf spot, canker, root rot and leaf and twig blight. Stressed trees become vulnerable to borers. Nevertheless, when they are in bloom, as they are right now, they can hold their own against our other flowering trees. There are pink blooming varieties that I think are even better, although it’s hard to complain about something as lovely as this. It should be said that they also generally have terrific fall color.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Cornus, Cornus florida, Dogwood, Flowering Dogwood, Flowering Trees, Small Trees, Trees
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Rainforest Walk
Brian, Cathy, and Dogs
Cathy, Brian and I took a walk with the dogs through Switzer Meadow and then on a loop beyond Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School. Most of that later trail is in the woods, some of which is relatively young. The whole area was probably clear cut less than 100 years ago, so there are few if any trees older than that. Some areas seem to be pretty scrubby and one area looked like it was a homeless camp or party spot not too many years ago. It’s hard to tell because wood decomposes very quickly in this wet environment. It’s still a pretty walk for the most part and we enjoyed being out with the dogs.
Categories: Flowers and Plants, People, Travel
Tags: Alaska, Hike, Juneau, Juneau Alaska, Rainforest, Temperate Rainforest, Trees, Woods
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Croyden Creek Walk
Croyden Creek Walk
After church and a visit with Margaret, we took a walk from the Croyden Creek Nature Center. We headed down to the creak and went downstream towards where Croyden Creek joins Rock Creek, just above where Baltimore Avenue crosses Rock Creek. Then we turned uphill to the north and followed a trail that loops around close to Norbeck Road and came back to the old cut for Avery Road, when is used to go through this way. We continued upstream from there past a small pond and returned by way of the civic center fields. It was a very pleasant walk. Most of the leaves were down, especially on the tulip poplars, which are the dominant tree in these woods. But there was enough color that it was still quite pretty.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Autumn, Croyden Creek, Fall Color, Rock Creek Watershed, Trees, Walking
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