Celebrating Timber is about taking time to understand and marvel at timber. Think about this: they’re the longest residing organisms on earth. Certainly timber deserve our respect and gratitude?
However when did you final take time to cease, and gaze and marvel at the great thing about autumn leaves? On the delicate tracery of naked branches? Have you ever rested your again towards the trunk of a tree, closed your eyes and listened to the breeze rustling its leaves; to the birds singing within the branches above you?
Celebrating Timber permits me to share some attention-grabbing information, quotes and pictures with you: Get pleasure from.
Celebrating Timber – Autumn
“Autumn is a second spring when each leaf is a flower.”
Albert Camus
Deciduous trees, those that drop their leaves, fill our world with a blaze of colour in autumn. But being a diva isn’t all that they’re up to. For us humans and mammals that hibernate autumn is about harvest. We gather together the fruits of the trees to keep us alive over the cold, inhospitable winter months.
All those acorns that the squirrels have buried lie underground. And of those oak tree seeds – for that is what acorns are – some will be forgotten by the squirrels. These will put out roots into the soil, and a green stem to break through the earth. And in time become great oak trees themselves.
Celebrating Trees – Winter
“So the shortest day came, and the year died…
To drive the dark away
They lighted candles in the winter trees”
Susan Cooper
Certainly, lighting up trees to encourage the daylight to return is an old pagan ritual. But perhaps some of the lights had a more prosaic use. If there were trees lining well-used paths and roadways it would seem easier to set lights in those than to make complicated lamp-posts…
Winter is the season when dark days are lit by snow reflecting what little light there is. Beautiful as it looks on trees, heavy snowfall can break branches. Be sure to brush snow off your specimen trees (after taking an arty photo, of course!)
Celebrating Trees – Spring
“The significance of the cherry blossom tree in Japanese culture goes back hundreds of years. In their country, the cherry blossom represents the fragility and the beauty of life. It’s a reminder that life is almost overwhelmingly beautiful but that it is also tragically short.”
Homaro Cantu
Flowering plants, including trees, are known botanically as Angiosperms. This describes the fact that their seeds are encased, surrounded an ovule. Think of that sweet cherry, that the spring blossom will turn into. A seed surrounded by an ovule. Angiosperms which are trees are known as hardwoods, or broadleaved trees. They are usually deciduous, but some, such as Rhododendron, are evergreen.
Of course, for our flowering cherry to develop fruit, or seeds, it needs to be pollinated by bees. Pollinating insects are vital to the food supply of humans and other animals. So be wary of using chemicals that harm them.
Celebrating Trees – Summer
“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
Warren Buffett
The documentary evidence for the earliest designed gardens that we know of comes from the warm Mediterranean and Asian countries. Is it any wonder then, that trees for summer shade played such an important role in these formal gardens?
Whilst shady trees offer a meeting place in parks and a cool sitting place in gardens its not as simple as you may think. Did you know that shade from street trees is critical in keeping down the temperatures in the concrete and stone cities that most of us live in? Seriously reduce temperatures, by up to 10 degrees in some cases.
Trees in our summer gardens may also be carrying immature fruit. The June drop where surplus apples fall from the tree may have been what hit Isaac Newton on the head. It would have been amusing if it had been a Newton wonder apple that hit him, but that cultivar dates from 1870. It’s a very good dual-purpose apple by the way.
Celebrating Trees – Conifers
“Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible.”
Euell Gibbons
Now I bet you never thought about eating your Christmas tree, did you? Well, it may not be the tastiest thing you’ve eaten, but some pine trees are edible, nutritious and pleasant to eat. If you’re going to forage food from pine trees (or anywhere) be very sure that what you are eating is not poisonous!
Having said that, I’m nibbling pine nuts while I write this blog. And I only foraged as far as the local shops… There are about 20 species of pine that produce nuts that we humans find tasty. If you have enough space its another tree to add to your orchard, nuttery or edible landscape. The Mediterranean Stone pine, Pinus pinea would be a very decorative addition. We’ve been eating these pine nuts for 6000 years. Pesto anyone?
Conifers are the sub-category of plant (taxonomic class) known as gymnosperms. Gymnosperm means ‘naked seed’; a seed which is not surrounded by an ovule, as an apple seed is, for example. Conifers are also referred to as softwoods. They are usually evergreen, but not all them are. Deciduous conifers include: –
- Ginkgo biloba, maidenhair tree;
- Larch – Larix decidua is the European Larch;
- Metasequoia glyptostroboides, dawn redwood;
- Taxodium distichum, bald cypress
Did you know that the tallest living organism in the world is the Californian Redwood, Sequoia sempervirens?
Or that you’ll never see a monkey on a monkey puzzle tree? The monkey puzzle tree, Araucaria acaucana supposedly got its name as it would be a puzzle to any monkey that tried to climb it…
Celebrating Trees – Urban Trees and Cityscapes; Suburban Trees
“Suburbia is where the developers bulldoze out the trees, then name the streets after them.”
Bill Vaughan
We’ve already touched on the cooling effect trees have on the urban jungle. Did you know that they also reduce the effects of flooding and water run-off? Urban trees help to keep our air clean too. Not only do they breathe the carbon dioxide that we and the vehicles exhale, but they absorb other air borne pollutants too.
Wind turbulence is another factor where trees are useful. All those tall buildings can create wind tunnels, and the street trees, whether in full foliage or with bare branches, filter the wind and slow it down. And of course, trees add a decorative visual counterpoint to the artificial jungle of buildings and cityscapes.
Celebrating Trees – Orchards
“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”
Martin Luther
And a pear tree, cherry tree, peach tree, plum and a quince tree. Plus, a lemon tree and an orange tree in large pots so I could take them into the greenhouse overwinter. Maybe a fig tree, with its roots restricted so it fruits rather than shoots. Ooh, maybe a pomegranate tree too.
Garden orchards, kitchen gardens, edible gardens, gardens full to bursting with fruit trees. Is it any wonder that so many religions and cultures over the centuries have considered the tree of life to be a fruit tree?
As you may know, ornamental edible gardens are a particular passion of mine. This includes both an orchard or edible garden which is decorative. And gardens where edibles and ornamentals are massed together creating a luscious mix of fruit and flowers. How to have the best of both worlds, you might say.
Oh, and I’d have a nuttery as well as an orchard. Nuts are often the poor relations and that’s such a shame. Sweet almond trees have some of the prettiest spring blossom and you get the nuts too. And a few coppiced hazel trees would provide a harvest of fresh cobnuts in their frilly cases.
Celebrating Trees – Designing with Trees and Planting Trees
“The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”
Chinese proverb
Talking of orchards, nutteries and ornamental edible gardens leads me onto designing with trees. There are blogs in in the links below to give you inspiration for topiary trees, ornamental trees for small gardens and suggestions for fruit trees. Including trees into a garden design is fundamental in my view. Even small courtyard gardens have room for a tree in a pot; as do many balconies. Bonsai trees may need to be used in the smallest of spaces, but it’s still a tree!
Planting trees should be carried out with care and much preparation. The tree may well live longer than you, so give it a good start. See link below for how to plant bare-root trees; many of the stages are the same for containerised trees. Designing with trees and how to choose the right tree for your garden are topics which I will be writing about soon.
Celebrating Trees – humour and lyricism
“My absolute favourite piece of information is the fact that young sloths are so inept that they frequently grab their own arms and legs instead of tree limbs, and fall out of trees.”
Douglas Adams
(Okay, so this is a kangaroo apple tree, Solanum aviculare, but I don’t think there is a tree named after a sloth)
“Swimming in a pool surrounded by trees.
Dark redwoods, transparent pale-leaved birches.
In their delicate network, a sliver of the moon.”
Czeslaw Milosz
And finally…
Celebrating trees: although this blog was partly inspired by National Tree Week UK, it is also borne out of a year-long dialogue between myself and trees. The trees I grow myself, those I plant for clients; those I prune; the trees I walk past on daily dog walks and when visiting different cities. There is always something to wonder about or care about or be in awe of – that is my dialogue, to acknowledge and be grateful.
National Tree Week UK began in 1975 and is an annual celebration of our trees at the end of November / beginning December. It is timed for this point in the year as this coincides with the beginning of the bare root tree season.
There are other tips and tricks, some of which can be found in other Plews Potting Shed blogs, including the selection below, our monthly Tipsheet and regularly on Instagram and Facebook
Related Gardening articles you may enjoy from our Award Winning Blog
Mainly Ornamental
9 Shrubs and Trees for Stunning Autumn Foliage
Ornamental Deciduous Trees for Small Gardens
3 Trees for London Balconies, London National Park City Week
5 Trees for Small Gardens
Tall Trees and Woodland Gardens
Mainly Edible
Beautiful Apple Blossom Trees for Your Garden
How to have a Mini Orchard in Your Garden
Quince Trees
Hawthorn
Fruit Trees and Small Gardens
Bare Root Fruit Trees
Holly, Yerba Mate, Coffee – What’s Growing in Your Garden?
Mainly Tips
Trees in the Garden – Questions and Answers
Coppiced Trees and Shrubs in Your Garden
How to create a Woodland Edge Habitat in Your Garden
Clay Soil Gardening
Chalk Soil Gardening
November in Your Garden – Tree Care, Pruning and Planting
