Tendrils

Category: Trees

  • Juniper Berries

        A pioneer tree or bush, depending on your thoughts, and its growing conditions, Eastern Red Cedar, Juniperus virginiana, is often one of the first to move into a field that has been cleared.   Eastern Red Cedars are actually Junipers. They play an important role in the lives of a long list of insects, birds…

  • Come Walk With Me

    Ice storm overnight. Beauty beyond words. Walk carefully with me and I will show you some of that beauty. Watch your step. It is very slick. If this blog had a sound track, this is what it would look like. I don’t know what the music actually sounds like, but as I was working on…

  • American Mistletoe

    The leaves in the forest, for the most part, all have fallen, yet every now and then there is a tree that has an odd, large clump of leaves.  At first glance it appears to be a squirrel’s nest.  Upon further investigation, small, leathery, emerald green leaves are revealed.  This is the stuff of many…

  • Diamonds Of Ice!

      As I snuggled in my bed last night, I was prepared for nothing special in the weather this morning. Yesterday‘s forecast had been for snow, sleet and freezing rain.   Mother Nature skipped the snow part, and went straight to sleet, and it kept going, all day long. The temperature remained steady at 27…

  • A Whole New World

    Life At A Different Level I was greeted by a whole new world yesterday, as I hiked up the mountain. I’d been down in Florida and not able to check on things up here for more than a week. When I left, autumn was on the downswing. Now, I am greeted by what looks like…

  • A Day Of Chestnut Trees And Berries

    Yes!  American Chestnut Trees! I was pleased this morning to be able to tell a dear friend that the trees he thought might be American Chestnuts, Castanea dentata, were indeed, the not often found species. Yay! This is good. I had mixed feelings though, because at the same time, I had to tell him that his trees would definitely…

  • Red Maple Common Beauty

    Red Maple Common Beauty

    Ubiquitous This fall, as I hike the steep and not so steep slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains, I see many, many Red Maples. Reading various websites and books to get information on the tree, I am not surprised to learn that this is the most common deciduous tree in eastern North America. Yes, it…

  • Brown Leaves All Winter

    A Miniature American Chestnut? While hiking in Shenandoah National Park last weekend, I became baffled by a couple small trees that caught my eye.  I was baffled because they looked very much like an American Chestnut tree, just scaled down to a child-size.  The scallop of the leaf edges intrigued me, being so reminiscent of…

  • Witch Hazel – Peak

    Floral Display Not much is blooming now.  About the only thing left putting on a show is the last of the late summer asters, with their lovely, soft lavender, diminutive petals.  Tiny petals adding a comforting accent to the brilliant fall colors. Lemon Zest The last floral display of the year is the one I’ve…

  • The Museum Of Autumnal Color

      The Flatlands Over the weekend I was down in the flatlands.  The truely flat lands of Maryland and Delaware, way out on the coast.  The flatlands where there is not much going on tree-wise, autumn-wise.  Just occasional farm stands filled with lovely orange pumpkins and garden mums.  That’s autumn for the flatlands.  While away,…