Long expected, this huge dead tree went down in a windstorm last week, taking with it a parrot nest. I saw one dead parrot, and of course there could be several more.
The tree had a double trunk. One side fell on one side of the power pole, and one side on the other. But the power line was still there! How was that possible?
It took us an embarrassingly long time to figure out that the power company had already been out to repair the line: note the shiny new clamps on the darker pole….
The rest of the harvest from my strange volunteer hybrid squash plants that grew out of a non-compost bin.
The crazy plant: I took a picture when it was almost the height of the fencing. It was very pretty, very symmetrical. Then it reached my height, and then the gutter, and then some of the branches fell over. Their ends then turned skyward and kept growing.
I suppose I should get rid of it, but instead I’m amazed by it, growing out of a tiny bit of sand that rarely gets water.
Around the corner from us.
Several months ago, we were quite dismayed to find loggers destroying a significant number of trees (and hence shade) where we walk dogs. I just ran across this photo I took, illustrating why it’s less dismaying than it might seem. My shoe is size 13 (45), so that stump grew from nothing to 24″ (61 cm) in 18 years.
In a wonderful book The Hidden Life of Trees, the author tells of doing a core sample of a spruce sapling, the width of this thumb (say, the first two rings) and about a meter tall. He was astounded to discover it was 80 years old!
So the trees will be back, as long as people stop setting fires.
It is widely accepted now that the last big fire was the work of an arsonist.
Spotted on the dog walk today.
Just because. A delightful little plant among several I traded for some cacti a month or so ago in the weekly street fair.
A flowering epiphyte in a little shrub I transplanted from the backyard years ago, which has turned out to be quite the tree.
I’ve had this photo a couple months; never got around to trying to find out why a fire-damaged pine tree was foaming one day.
“…what you were looking at is a common bacterial disease among deciduous trees called slime flux. Now, if that is not a disgustingly descriptive name I do not know what is. Another name is wetwood because of the water-soaked marks on the trunk of infected trees.
“There are several bacteria that are associated with this disease and no one single organism has been identified as the main culprit. As the bacteria grow inside the tree (usually in damaged areas of the wood), carbon dioxide gas is released as fermentation occurs.
“This release of gas increases the pressure in the tree and forces sap to the outside, resulting in wet areas on the trunk. This is called fluxing and results in large, dark regions on the trunk once the flux is exposed to air. These wet areas become breeding grounds for other microorganisms – as alcohols are produced in this mess, bubbles or foam form as well as foul smells.
“I am surprised you did not see many insects feeding on the “brew” because this alcohol mixture attracts many bees, beetles and other larval forms to the concoction. Fortunately, the insects do not do any harm and there has not been any indication that the insects can act as a vector for the disease and spread it to other healthy trees in the area.”
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