trees Archives

Posted on March 20, 2011 by Barb — 4 Comments

Spring Was Here and Now It’s Snowing

My blog entries over the last few weeks have shown what wonderful spring weather we have been enjoying. This week we had snow, heavy rain, and high winds. In between storms we would rush outdoors to drink in the sunshine and get some fresh air. The daffodils are still blooming, several vases full at a time which contributes to my good mood.

Our signs of spring have been popping up all around us and I made a personal list of things to study in the next few weeks, some with the Handbook of Nature Study and some with my field guide.

1. Dogwood (Handbook of Nature Study page 680)
2. Spotted Towhees-Where do they nest?
3. Red Shouldered Hawk
4. Iris (Handbook of Nature Study page 571)
5. Hair Cap Moss (Handbook of Nature Study page 709)

Our new dogwood tree (planted last fall) is beginning to show signs of life. We purchased it when it had lost its leaves already so we are anxious to see it leaf out and blossom too.

Our forsythia continues to spread its own yellowy sunshine in our yard, providing shelter to the sparrows and towhees that sit on its boughs.

The buds on this tree are ready to burst open and seem to be waiting for just the right moment.

Mr. A’s tulip bed shows signs of life this week and on careful examination you can actually see the flower buds forming. Now that says spring!

Last year I featured this flower in my signs of spring post and I didn’t know what it was called. I have since done my homework to discover its name because I wanted to plant some more in a different area of the yard since it is such a great bloomer. It is Laurustinus – Spring Beauty. I actually found some to purchase at our Home Depot last week and four new plants are happily placed by Mr. A over on the other end of the yard now.

How quickly our weather changes this time of year! We went from sunshine to rain and then to two inches of snow in a matter of hours. Now today it is back to rain again with periods of snow showers that wash away with the next wave of rain.

The daffodils still add color to our yard even with the snow coming down. I picked quite a few and brought them inside so it feels like spring at least on the inside of the house.

The birds were not deterred by the snow and they gathered at the bird feeding station. We all sat and watched the birds flying in and out as the snowflakes came down all around. They sheltered under the nearby lavender and would pop out to flutter up and take a few nibbles.

So there you go…a wide range of spring weather and lots of promises for a future summer of color and goodness.

Looking forward to seeing your signs of spring this week!

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Barb — 8 Comments

Magnificent Redwoods – Closer Look and a Nature Journal Entry

There are three kinds of redwood trees: Coast redwoods, Dawn redwoods, and Giant sequoias. I have two of the three in my neighborhood. We have a sequoia in our backyard and there is a small grove of redwoods planted across the street at the school. We stopped last week to take a closer look at the redwood while we were out on a walk.

The bark of the redwood is spongy and in the photo above you can see how you can peel the bark in strand-like fibers. This tree is such an amazing creation and our family has found delight in learning the details of the life-cycle of this tree.

Here is an excerpt from the Save the Redwoods League website:
“The coast redwood is one of the world’s fastest growing conifers. In contrast to the tree’s size, redwood cones are very small — only about an inch long. Each cone contains 14 to 24 tiny seeds: It would take well over 100,000 seeds to weigh a pound! In good conditions, redwood seedlings grow rapidly, sometimes more than a foot annually. Young trees also sprout from their parent’s roots, taking advantage of the energy and nutrient reserves contained within the established, shallow root system.”

Isn’t this just amazing to see? I grew up with a Coast Redwood in my backyard but I don’t ever remember noticing this part of the growth cycle before. I love the way a more regular nature study has opened our eyes to the wonderful things right in our own neighborhood. Trees seem to become just part of the landscape unless we slow down for a closer look. I feel like a poet sometimes when we are looking at trees….words just seem to spill out. You cannot stand under one of these mammoth trees and not have a whole string of adjectives come to mind.

We are going to do some more research on the way the redwood will regenerate and I am sure this study will continue when we take our camping trip to coast of Northern California later this summer, a trip we have taken before but we are all eager to do again. A whole forest of redwoods is an experience to treasure.

Here I am last summer (2010) at Humbolt Redwoods in Northern California.
Does that give you an idea of how tall these trees are in real life?

I am trying to be more disciplined about adding to my nature journal regularly. It isn’t so much that I don’t want to take the time but rather that I always spend way more time than expected doing research, reading field guides, and then getting lost in joy of the actual journaling time. Even the simple task of sketching a small twig from the redwood into my nature journal brought into focus some special attributes that a casual glance could not reveal. I have been enjoying adding some photos to my entries and find that the combination of sketching, writing, and adding a photo brings me a great sense of satisfaction.

We have had a really busy week so the small square activity and our mammal study have been postponed. Guess who we will be learning about for our winter mammal study? Mr. Fox Squirrel!

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Barb — 5 Comments

Pines, Evergreens, Cones, and Needles

This week has been full of nature study….the informal kind that happens as we go about our everyday life. My boys are a big part of the experience and they discover things in our world that I miss. Their eyes seem to be open to so much around them, while my head is full of schedules and tasks that need to be done. I really must make a conscious effort to clear my head more when we are outdoors.

First of all, before I get into the pines and cones, I have to share a rare visitor to our backyard. This Northern flicker was up on the tree and Mr. A spotted it and brought it to my attention. Not the first time we have ever had a flicker in the yard but it has been a long time since we observed this interesting bird. They eat bugs and insects from the grass below the tree but they are considered woodpeckers. They also have a red flash on their wings when they fly.

Our focus on cones and needles this week was highlighted by two events.

The first happened last week when we had a huge windstorm with lots of gusts. The wind brought down small branches and cones on the trail where we walk and we were able to get a good look at both. These are not from a pine but a fir tree, Douglas fir. I love what it says in our field guide about the Douglas fir cone. It says, “mouse tail bracts grow between scales”. Sure enough…there they are.

The second event was a walk on our walking trail where we were trying to notice something interesting about pines. Here is a spot on the trail where there are two different pines growing side by side.

Notice the two different colors of needles.

They both have bundles of three and are about the same length. We are pretty sure after much study of our field guides and online sources that one is a Gray pine and the other is a Ponderosa pine. We are going to take our field guide back with us later today and see if we can nail the identification down positively.

What a great week we have had looking for cones and pines! I know that many of you are experiencing cold snowy weather but here in our woods we are enjoying abundant sunshine and no precipitation.

Guess what I spotted yesterday in my garden? The first daffodil of the year is starting to bloom! Crazy, crazy weather for us too!

Posted on February 6, 2011 by Barb — 7 Comments

Manzanita and Miner’s Lettuce – Adding to the Nature Journal

We decided that we wanted to do a nature journal entry for the manzanita that grows alongside the walking trail. We did a little research and found that there are 106 species of manzanita in the world. I found a page that shows manzanita for Northern California with beautiful photos and descriptions.

It will soon be blooming and the buds are all starting to form. I read in my field guide that it is one of the earliest blooming plants in our area. The flowers are a pretty shape and after they start blooming I will make another journal entry to record those. This time I drew the leaf and a very stylized version of the whole plant.

I couldn’t get the color of the bark just right….in real life they are such a smooth dark red color.

We need to record this plant as well…miner’s lettuce. The official name is Claytonia perfoliata but the nickname comes from the Gold Rush days when the gold miner’s would eat this plant to get their vitamin C. It is a great plant that makes a great addition to a salad.

During the winter season the nature study subjects are smaller in number so we thought we should take advantage of the opportunities that we do have to put something new in our journals.

Here is fun short video on Miner’s Lettuce...how to identify and harvest.

Posted on February 4, 2011 by Barb — 9 Comments

2011 Winter Series Outdoor Hour Challenge #5 Pine Trees and Winter Wednesday #5 Evergreens


Evergreens and Aspens

Another week where the challenges match up for you!

Winter Series #5 Pine Trees in Winter
Winter Wednesday #5 Evergreens/Cones

Please feel free to complete one or both of the challenges as you have the opportunity. We would all enjoy seeing your entries and even if it is at a later date, please come back to this entry and add your link.

Evergreens on the Lake’s Edge

Don’t forget to check the Winter Wednesday Squidoo page for more information for #4 and #5 challenges to go along with this week’s study.

I forgot to mention last week with the winter weather challenge that my daughter has a Weather Lapbook Kit that you can purchase if you want to spend some extra time learning about your weather. Check it out on her blog Hearts and Trees.

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Barb — 13 Comments

2011 Winter Series Outdoor Hour Challenge #4 Winter Weather and Winter Wednesday #4 Tree Silhouettes

Fallen Leaf Lake Snowshoe Hike

Here are this week’s challenges:

Outdoor Hour Challenge #4 Winter Weather Study
Winter Wednesday #4 Tree Silhouettes -More ideas for this study can be found on Squidoo.

These two challenges can easily be combined into one outdoor excursion. Both challenges can also be done from the comfort of your own window if it is bitterly cold outdoors. Observations can be made and then recorded in your nature journal or if you have the ebooks you can record your findings on the accompanying notebook pages.

Snowshoe Tracks with Aspen Silhouettes

Even if you don’t do anything else this week, try to get outside for some fresh air and a good walk with your children.

Posted on January 22, 2011 by Barb — 6 Comments

“Never Saw a Discontented Tree”

“I never saw a discontented tree.They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do They go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far!” ~John Muir

Trees in winter are amazing. As much as I like the leafy greenness of spring and the blazing colors of autumn, a winter tree with its bare branches showing is so appealing to look at…almost like a sculpture.

Our local area has been plagued with fog for the last week and it makes me so grateful that we live just high enough in elevation to be above the fog line. Sunday afternoon we decided to venture the trail to the river and as we started out we could see the fog sitting low in the distance. It is about a mile and a half walk from the parking lot to the river along this winding ranch road and where the fog is lies the river.

Along the trail are lots of trees and rocks. My son and I both really liked the way these particular rocks were stacked and painted with lichens and moss. The oak tree on the left seems to be holding them all up but in fact, I think the rocks are sheltering the oak.

The rest of the hike was refreshing because it is a gentle downhill slope to the river. The sun was bright and as we approached the river we could hear it roaring! I scrambled up onto the rocks for a closer look at how wide and deep the water is this time of the year.

That is pure snow melt….freezing cold and crystal clear.

The fog had lifted and now the skies over the river were blue and cheerful. We sat for a long time and watched the water flow by. As long as you were in the sunshine it was warm.

Not all of us hiked on this day. Mr. A brought his mountain bike and he took the high trail up on the ridge…somewhere up on the top of that hill. He was a muddy mess when we got back up to the car but he had enjoyed the time alone on the bike.

I’m sure we will travel this trail a few more times this spring and with each trek we will see the progression of grasses and wildflowers. For now we were content with the trees, the sky, and the refreshing goodness of a good hike down a familiar trail.

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Barb — 2 Comments

December World – Colors

Our December days are accented with color….right in our own yard.

My husband brought some granite rocks into the front yard when we remodeled and I am so happy to see that they are alive with moss and lichens of a variety of colors. Now when I walk down my front path I will see some living things that have made themselves at home…that makes me happy.

There are still leaves falling each day from the colorful trees and I love the way this red leaf fell among the yellow-green leaves. Now that I look at the photo closely, I notice there is a mushroom peeking through on the top left side.

The gray skies of December have a different feel to them and give the afternoon a somber cast. The sweet gum tree is all dressed up with its sticker balls and a few remaining red-orange leaves. I find myself looking up at the sky more in the winter….checking the sky for clouds, looking for birds, viewing the world that opens up when the leaves are gone.

I feel a whole series of December World posts coming on as I work my way through my photos from this week. Using photography to capture your world is not only an easy way to document your time outdoors but it can be therapeutic to see the world through the lens of your camera. You get to focus on the small and the big.

Hope you are enjoying the series so far.

Posted on December 14, 2010 by Barb — 6 Comments

Flaming Tree on an Autumn Morning

Up early a few days ago on a brilliant autumn morning, I noticed one of our sweet gum trees ablaze with the sunrise. It looked like a torch against the blue sky all lit up with the morning rays.

The curious thing about this tree is that it still has most of its leaves. You can see in the photo there are similar trees on either side of it that have lost all but a few of their leaves. Three trees…all the same kind….all planted at the same time…..one decides to keep its leaves. Curious.

“The autumn leaf which glows gold or red, has in it only the material which the tree can no longer use. It is a mistake to believe that the frost causes the brilliant colors of autumn foliage, they are caused by the natural old age and death of the leaves-and where is there to be found old age and death more beautiful? When the leaf assumes its bright colors, it is making ready to depart from the tree; a thin, corky layer is being developed between the petiole and the twig, and when this is perfected, the leaf drops from its own weight or the touch of the slightest breeze.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 622

Here is another tree that is planted on the side of our house and it is amazingly tall and colorful. The birds like to sit in this tree and sing in the summer time but now they are mostly gone.

I spotted a house sparrow in this tree off the side of our deck. The sparrows are regular visitors to our feeders and stick around the whole year. This one seemed to be enjoying the sunrise.

I enjoy a good sunrise myself.

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Barb — 2 Comments

Our Family OHC: Pine Cones and More About Pines

Photo by Mr. A

Our study of pine cones started way back when I was writing the Autumn Series ebook. We gathered a few pine cones to use in the experiments suggested. We had fun soaking the cones in a bucket of water and then setting them in the sun to observe them as they dried and opened up again. Simple things sometimes make the deepest impressions and honestly, none of us had really put all the pieces together until doing the experiments. I know I took photos but they are lost somewhere on my hard drive. Could that be a sign of taking too many photos? I bet a lot of you can relate to my desire to document as much as I can about our world and that leads to lots of images to save and enjoy.

Our unofficial theme as we worked through this study became something like this:
Pine cones don’t just hold still, they are a living thing created for a specific purpose.

What else pushed this pine cone study up another notch?

We have had sort of an on-going study of the female and male cones of the pines in our area.

We studied pine cones back in February of 2008 as part of the Winter Wednesday studies: Cones and a Woodpecker. We also studied pines as part of the Winter Series back in February 2010. This time though we are really trying to concentrate on the cones.

We extended our study of female and male cones.

Male cones with the pollen.

This is the photo that sort of started it all so long ago. We wondered if these were “baby pine cones”. Well, it turns out they are not and only after completing a study of what gymnosperms are in our biology study did things start to fall into place. There are male and female cones on the tree. Females are usually at the top and males at the bottom. The males have the pollen that is wind driven up to meet up with the female cones. How about a simple video that even I can understand? Here you go!

Pine Cones on YouTube.com

Next we wondered why the female cones are sticky and then we guessed it had to do something with capturing the pollen…but that is whole other subject.

This guy wanted to be included in our pine cone study this week. He was so very happy that I put out some extra walnuts for him when I was filling the birdfeeders and he climbed up the tree to look in the living room window at us.

“Thanks a lot”, he said as he swished his big fluffy tail and then dropped to the ground and off to eat some more.

There were also some bird friends that made an appearance but I will save those for another post.

There is always something to learn about in our world and these challenges have helped us focus on things that we never dream of making into a complete study all on their own. I love it.

Category: trees