An Appreciation of Trees

At our book club meeting last week we discussed Peter Wohlleben's best-selling The Hidden Life of Trees.

After an interesting discussion on the things like the pluses and minuses of anthropomorphism, the possible pitfalls of translation, the wonders of trees and other creatures working together and nurturing one another as well as the importance and decline of old growth forests, we ended up showing each other photos of amazing trees on our phones. 

I deemed the idea of tree photos blog-worthy and here are the ones I remember plus maybe a few extra. Okay, I probably got carried away.

• Crown Shyness

Wohlleben described how. as tree crowns grow, they tend to merge as they spread out and I discovered there's a phenomenon called crown shyness, usually but not always among trees of the same species.

• Trees Growing on Arctic Tundra

These trees actually qualify as old growth forests since they are hundreds of years old in spite of being somewhat inhibited in growth.

• Plane Trees

Plane trees in France are often pollarded - the crown is severely cut back, often in a cube shape like these trees along the Champs-Elysées. Such pruning is one way of reducing damage due to mistrals, that strong cold northwest wind blowing in from the Mediterranean Sea. Trees pollarded over many years often develop large cavities in the trunk.

The Book Clubbers fondly remembered a rare (we think) Canadian plane tree on the main drag in Niagara-on-the-Lake near the Royal George Theatre and I think I have seen others on my walks around the town. Easy to recognize with distinctive camo bark. Not pollarded.

• Umbrella Catalpa Trees

I remember these being quite common in 1970's private gardens but you don't see them as often now, maybe because they need regular maintenance and tend to leave a bit of a mess on the lawn - umbrella catalpa trees which get pollarded every fall and still manage to grow an impressive crown before winter arrives.

• Mistletoe

Great balls of parasitic plant growth that suck the life out of trees. Eventually, when the tree can no longer supply what they need, the mistletoe also dies. The photo below was taken in Normandy from the car window but we also saw them in trees surrounding the Canadian War Cemetery at Bény-Sur-Mer.

• The Maple Leaf Forever Tree (possibly an urban myth)

The tree that might have inspired Alexander Muir's composition of Canada's unofficial anthem in 1867 grew and thrived in the Leslieville area of Toronto. Unfortunately, the iconic tree's estimated 160-180-year life ended during a severe 2013 windstorm. 

All parts of the tree were sectioned and recovered, sold off to interested people, woodcarvers and carpenters, who used the boards, branches and sawdust (used by the Toronto Zoo) from the tree to make benches, ceremonial gear, memorial furniture and even a guitar. See my 2015 post about it here, although I apologize that most of the photos in that post are no longer available. 

• The Vimy Oaks

That Maple Leaf Forever tree reminded me of the Vimy Oaks - you might already know the story. 

The WWI battle of Vimy Ridge, April 9-12, 1917 in northeast France was a killer, with thousands of men, both Canadians and Germans lost or wounded in brutal conditions. The oak trees in the area were also pretty much wiped out. 

Canadian, Lieutenant Leslie H. Miller survived the battle and returned to Canada with some Vimy acorns in his baggage. Since he was no longer able to pursue a career as a teacher, Miller's father gave him 24 acres of land in northeast Toronto where he farmed. And planted those acorns. Vimy Oaks. He named the farm after them. 

The oaks grew and thrived in the Canadian soil, producing crop after crop of acorns. As a centenary offering, the Government of Canada offered to ship some Vimy seedlings from Miller's trees to France. Worried about the possibility of passing botanical disease across the ocean, the offer was declined in favour of a shipment of Vimy acorns to be planted in the forest which abuts the Canadian National Vimy Memorial. Vimy Oaks repatriated. 

• Cathedral Grove, Vancouver Island, BC

• The Giant Redwoods of Northern California

• The Sycamore Gap Tree, Hadrian's Wall, UK

I was lucky enough to walk past this tree last May. In spite of Wohlleben's theory that trees really need each other in reasonably close company in order to thrive, this tree is thriving. Obviously, this iconic sycamore that has been around for years, on its own, in a protected spot between two rising ridges on either side is doing well. Hadrian's Wall Path goes from left to right in the photo which is directed northward.

• Cedars of Lebanon

• Moreton Fig Tree

The Moreton Bay Fig also known as an Australian Banyan, has a huge aggressive root system and an immense crown, making it a poor candidate for a private yard but it is often found in public areas of places like Australia, northern New Zealand, Portugal and Sicily. We were blown away seeing them when we were in Auckland.

One of the interesting facts about fig trees is that the fruit can only be pollinated by fig wasps and fig wasps can only reproduce inside fig flowers: a mutual relationship.

• Monkey Puzzle Tree

This very unique-looking monkey puzzle tree is native to southern and central Chile (it's the national tree of Chile) and western Argentina. It was imported into the UK in the mid-19th century and can be found there in the warmer climes - Cornwall and Valentia Island off of southern Ireland - and even in colder places of the UK - Scotland and in Norway, the west coast of North America as far north as the Haida Gwaii, the east coast of the US, Australia and New Zealand. 

Finally, from Phil Barnett, @squinancywort1, a chart of tree bark.