Posted in Trees on Friday, June 6, 2008 | 9 Comments »
I’m way overdue for a tree of the month selection! This month I picked red horse chestnut, Aseculus x carnea ‘Briotti’. I actually haven’t seen this tree in bloom before and I think it’s quite exotic looking for New England. This is probably as close as we in the Northeast will be able to get [...]
Posted in Trees on Tuesday, April 1, 2008 | 7 Comments »
Though I technically missed March, my tree of the month for March is the sugar maple (Acer saccharum). March is maple sugaring month here in New England–maple syrup being one of the main reasons that the sugar maple is worthy of being named tree of the month.
Posted in Trees on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 | 7 Comments »
A reader asked about a tree in the Great Indian (or Thar) Desert in Rajasthan, India. Khejari (Prosopis cineraria), also called kandi, khejri, jand, and ghaf, among many others, is found mainly in the dry and arid deserts of India, where annual rainfall is 10-20 inches. Khejari are found on plains and in ravines, rarely [...]
Posted in Nature / Ecology, Science Lesson, Trees on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 | 8 Comments »
Marcescence is when a plant part dies but is not shed. It’s most frequently noticed in the winter, when certain deciduous tree species don’t lose their dead leaves. Oaks and beeches have normally marcescent leaves. That’s an oak at left, and marcescent beech leaves are pictured below the jump.
Posted in Field Trips, Trees on Friday, September 28, 2007 | 4 Comments »
I caught a terrible cold this week, plus I had an emergency request from a client, so I’ve delayed my next post about last week’s visit to Blithewold. But I promised tree porn, so here it is. These are a few of my favorite trees on the grounds of Blithewold.
To the left is a [...]
Posted in Trees on Sunday, September 9, 2007 | 2 Comments »
I’m sort of a cemetery perv–I love visiting them and taking photographs, even though graveyard photos are so cliche. And if you have access to a big public cemetery, it can be a great place to learn about trees and horticulture, because often the specimens are labeled.
Posted in Environment, Trees on Sunday, December 31, 2006 | 4 Comments »
Taken in Providence on Dec. 28th, this photo of a blooming crabapple tree speaks volumes about the unseasonably warm fall and winter that we’ve had here in New England thus far. I think we’re back “on track” though–it’s been very cold the last couple of days and we even had snow flurries yesterday. Best wishes [...]
Posted in Environment, Trees on Monday, December 18, 2006 | 10 Comments »
Curt and I were debating whether to get a Christmas tree this year, and I turned to the Internet to do some research, as usual. Quite a few bloggers have tackled the needle-y issue of the earth friendly Christmas tree. Naturally I’m late to the topic–only a week until Christmas and all, but I thought [...]
Posted in Trees on Monday, December 11, 2006 | 8 Comments »
These are some photos that I took on a recent walk in the woods (end of November). It was strange because almost all of the decidious leaves were off the trees, except for this particular species. (Chestnuts, I think?)
Posted in Nature / Ecology, Plants & Flowers, Trees on Thursday, December 7, 2006 | 2 Comments »
Ecological gardens–sometimes called forest gardens–are based on natural native or naturalized plant groupings or communities in your region. I’ve been looking into the concept and have felt for some time that the hardest part about planning this type of garden is knowing what to plant. OK, you know that in your area there are many [...]
Posted in Nature / Ecology, Trees on Thursday, November 30, 2006 | 13 Comments »
Allelopathy is a process by which a plant releases chemicals that can either inhibit or benefit other plants. Since most allelopathic plants cause harm to other plants, that’s the what I’ll be discussing here.
Posted in Trees on Wednesday, November 1, 2006 | 6 Comments »
A couple of weeks ago I had the brilliant idea of writing about why leaves change colors. Undeterred by the fact that now most of the leaves are on the ground, I’m forging forward, despite the fact that this has probably been explained on a million blogs by now.
Posted in Pests & Diseases, Trees on Tuesday, October 24, 2006 | 7 Comments »
On a walk this past weekend, I saw some oak galls. Sometimes called oak apples or oak potatoes, oak galls are abnormal growths on oak leaves, twigs, or stems that are made from the plant tissue itself by parasitic wasps.
Posted in Trees on Sunday, October 22, 2006 | 5 Comments »
A well-documented story of near extinction is worth re-telling here. The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) used to be one of the most prolific and important trees in North America. It was prized for the beauty of its hardwood and the bounty of nuts it annually produced.
It’s estimated that at its peak, there were more than [...]
Posted in Trees on Saturday, September 30, 2006 | 9 Comments »
The New York Times reports today that researchers in California have discovered a new “world’s tallest tree.” Of course it’s a redwood, one of the most beautiful trees you could ever hope to see.
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