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Black Walnuts
Looking up from beneath a Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) reveals a splendid, captivating pattern against the sky. Now that pattern has an added element, a change in color. Each leaflet of every compound leaf is changing little by little. Emerald to chartreuse green to chartreuse yellow and everything in between. Black Walnuts dropping everywhere staining…
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Tulip Poplar
The first tree I remember getting to know. Growing right next to our patio. As a little one I’d listen for its “heartbeat” and give it “injections” though now I’m sure it was totally healthy. Back then I had the title of “Tree Doctor” and would take care of it. A Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera).…
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American Beech
Hawaiian shave ice. Snow collects in the cone shapes that American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) leaves make during the winter. It reminds me of a trip long ago. A trip to Hawaii to see a total solar eclipse. A trip to be introduced to Hawaiian shave ice, which brings me back to the subject of my…
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Red-breasted Nuthatch
A little feathered creature that I see some winters. A bird that is said to be “irruptive,” meaning it depends on the seed supply where it normally spends its winters. In years when the seeds of pine, spruce, and fir trees are not plentiful these birds will venture into areas where they are not normally…
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Eyed Click Beetle
A goal of my hike this morning was to find a cover shot for my Facebook timeline. I was collecting images of tree bark, lichen, and beautiful mosses, all possible candidates. At a mature sassafras tree, as I worked around some poison ivy vines, I came upon a surprise: two BIG eyes looking back at…
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A Walk to Westover
Sunday morning found me walking to the Westover Farmer’s Market, through Mother Nature’s slant on things in an urban environment. An environment a bit different than I have become accustomed to. Some of the trees, shrubs, flowers, familiar – from my childhood. The Japanese Red Maple brought back memories of a tree that my parents…
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Sap is Flowing
In the past three days I have been entertained by a visitor that I have not seen for more than two years. I don’t really know if this visitor is actually one that I saw during the bitterest of late January and early February of 2014, but she is quite fun to watch whether new to my…
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Hackberry
Here on Snow Mountain, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, I see quite a few hackberry trees, Celtis occidentalis. Most are trees with circumferences of 5 inches or smaller, trees that have not been around long. Their small size may be, in part, because the forest up here is a young forest. Back in the 1950s…
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Beech
It took a while for me to figure out. Figure out the little trees, clinging dearly to their leaves well into winter. Hanging on as if the trees’ very life depended on it. I would see these trees from the window of my truck, as I would drive past. Such a common sight. Many woods…
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Virginia Pine
The holidays. They’re here. They’ve got me thinking of pine trees, and pinecones. And I’m wishing for snow. I’ve had a tiny bit of snow already, but I’m ready for more. This is Virginia pine, Pinus virginiana. I live in a cabin, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, in central Virginia. There are plenty of Virginia pine up…