Westward Ho....and Back Again

This past weekend we took a quick trip.  I love looking at the scenery as we drive down the road.  I believe these to be Eastern White Pines, Pinus strobus.  The branching is whirled and spaced so that it looks like rows of branches are added. 

We headed west.... and up, up, up
Up through the mountains of North Carolina and into Tennessee.  This route has been known to be closed for rock slides.  Yikes!















You can see the water seeping/ running out of the layers of rock.

After the mountains we went through a lot of flat land.  I did not take photos of the Ohio River nor the Tennessee River, both of which were overflowing their banks.   Spring flooding was wide spread.

We then headed into the city to get our kids from the airport......seeing interesting structures along the way.  Found out this is a standing water pipe.  This link Standing Water Pipes shows three -- I have a picture of two, though the one below is the best photo of the lot.  (Remember we were driving through city traffic).

Pretty cool structure isn't it?  Still trying to find out what it is.

Where were we you might ask---- here is a hint-

See the Arch?  Yes, we were in St. Louis area this past weekend.  For those of you who are regular readers, you might remember my last post was sharing my SPRING weather, well, St. Louis hasn't had that happen yet.  Friday night thunderstorms, Saturday freezing temps and wind and rain, Saturday night-- snow flurries.  BBBBRrrrrrrrrr......

You might wonder why the heck we drove out to St. Louis for a weekend---

My brother had another son get married on Saturday. (Remember our trip to St. Louis for a wedding in May? Same family, another son.) 

  Lovely wedding and great seeing family.

Sunday was time to get the kids back to the airport and head east.....and SOUTH!!!

Once again, I was watching the scenery zoom by. 

 First it was flat, lots of open fields and hawks galore.

Then we started seeing the mountains off in the distance.  Wonderful views at every turn.

I will admit this now....I probably took about 100 photos from a truck moving 70+ mph down the highway.   Lesson learned--- photos come out better (if one MUST take pictures from a moving vehicle) when you take the pictures out the front window, not the side/ passenger window. 

I love how the clouds hang in the mountains.  What a gorgeous sight.

As we got closer to the mountains you could see that the morning frost was still on the west side of the mountain. 

From a distance I thought it was the sun shining on the top, but just the opposite, no sun---just frost.

And I think one of my favorite photos-- Titled-- "The conflicted state of spring".

Yes, those are daffodils in the median and snow on the mountain top.  Do you have a photo showing the conflicted state of spring?  If so, share a link in the comment section.

And the most welcome sight to see----

So glad to be home again.  More blooms have opened and the grass is getting greener and the lake is up higher.  Time for a boat ride??

Tree posts will be back next week. 



words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

A Walk Through The Neighborhood (The Winter Walk Off Challenge)

A day or two ago Les challenged us to talk a walk through our neighborhood and take some photos of the last days of winter.  I love the long shadows that the morning sun casts on the front walk.  This was taken before the walk....the dogs like to get up early, I keep telling them  we are retired!

 In the back garden the new trellis that holds the Carolina Jessamine, Gelsemium sempervirens.  This morning it held water droplets from the big storm that blew through last night.

 The rising sun plays with the trees in the woods along our side yard. 

As we began our walk  I wanted to make sure to get a good photo of the tiny green leaves emerging from the brambles along the road. 

 The sky was so blue after a wild storm last night that produced a tornado or two in the area.  We saw some trees down, one on a house in Abbeville.  I love the white bark of the Sycamore against the clear blue sky.

 You may have noticed I have been saying 'we'.  I take the dogs for a walk every day, all three of them. 

 These last few days I have had my friend Linda visiting from Seaford.  Yes, one of my loyal subjects.  She agreed to take Skyler's leash.  You can see the red in the maples starting to bud and the clean green of the stand of pines.

We have a lot of native grasses that are a beautiful shade of tan/russet/beige, standing tall through the winter.  I like these grasses.

Down in one of the swales there is a tree blooming that stands out against all the others.  Not sure what it is, YET.  Might be a pear or plum -- I will figure it out.

 The birds are building their nests, this one was really low, about 3 or 4 feet high in a small sapling.   Not sure whose nest it is... could be from last year.

The high winds from the thunderstorm blew some of the spent blooms from the Tulip Poplars into the street.

Once home from our walk we checked out some of the plants in the yard.  Jane is starting to bloom!!!  What a treat.  I love her buds.

Thanks for joining me and Linda on our morning walk with the doggies.  How is the winter winding down in your neck of the woods?? (Be sure to visit Les and participate in this challenge)

words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Tuesday's Trees- Burr Oak, Quercus macrocarpa

A couple weeks ago we took a drive to the next county to check on one of our antique clocks. Most of our outings turn into adventures, this is no exception. We came across a sign that indicated an Indian grave site and we thought we would check it out.

We never found the exact place but did find a sign telling about the Cherokee in this area. Historical markers tell the tale. Interesting link.

ANYHOW, while we were driving around we saw this neat old church. After we looked at the church (from the truck) I had Charlie drive around the front of the driveway again. Something caught my eye. It was this fern, growing in the tree, green! in the beginning of February. I took pictures of the fern and tried to research it, thinking it was a tree fern.  It wasn't so I did what anyone would do, send the pictures to my friendly fern expert. This fern is an epiphyte, growing on the tree but not taking nutrients from the tree. It is a Resurrection fern, Polypodium polypodioides. Amazingly it is hardy zones 6- 11. Floridata has some good information about this cool fern.  Thanks Jim!

I know what you are thinking, this is a tree posting, where is the tree?
Well the fern was in the tree!! The tree was an oak, kind of gnarly...probably close to 100 years old.  Turns out this was a Bur(r) oak, Quercus macrocarpa.  The bark is gray to brown and in older trees the scaly bark becomes vertical longer ridges.  In making my identification I wasn't sure (100%) about my first assessment that it was a Bur Oak as the twigs have corky wings, similar to the Sweetgum or Winged Elm.
From the photos I had, none of the twigs showed signs of corky ridges. The leaves had rounded lobes, check.
The Bur Oak is in the white oak family, rounded lobes. The leaves I am sharing are from last year, those who hang on to the end of winter. In the spring/summer I will go back and get some green leaf photos. The leaves cluster at the branch tips, another white oak characteristic.

The tree is monoecious and the fruit is one of its most striking features. The acorn is a good food source for the animals and birds of its forest. Here is what I first saw of this noted fruit--
Not impressed? Just look at the size of this acorn!



This tree doesn't usually produce seed until it is about 35 years old, with the best years between the ages 75- 150 years.  It can continue to produce seed/ fruit well into the 400th  year.  Pretty amazing. 

The mature size of this tree is 80 feet but there are some larger ones in the Ohio River valley.  It is a slow grower and lives upwards of 400 years.  The shape of the mature tree is wide and spreading canopy and is a wonderful shade tree.The native range is the Eastern part of North America, though it was planted across the Great Plains.  It is grown in various sights, depending soils, it could be a bottom lands tree or uplands or limestone ridges.  The Silvics Manual has a detailed account of growing conditions.  My other 'go-to' reference is VTech dendrology publications.

The wood is prized for lumber uses, often sold as white oak. 

 The tree is a native though not really one of the south.  It is hardy zones 3-8.  After sourcing the fern to my friend in Virginia, I took the acorn to my Cooperative Extension agent, a forester.  He confirmed it to be a Bur Oak.  I was confused as its native range does not include South Carolina.  He said either Indian migration could have collected acorns from native growth.  Another possibility was that since the tree (and some of its friends) were planted in front of this church, so perhaps they were planted as specimen trees.  Either way, they created a wonderful frontage to this old church. 

Next week, taking a tree break.  Stay tuned for more to come.

words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.