Category: trees

Castanea dentata

chestnut snag
This snag, or dead tree, has been standing since it was killed by the chestnut blight that moved through Pennsylvania by the early 1920’s.
Wildlife, such as turkey, bear, deer and squirrels depended on this tree for food. It was a very fast growing tree. The largest American chestnut tree ever recorded before felling was 54 feet in circumference (approximately 17 feet in diameter).

“You teach me, I forget. You show me, I remember. You involve me, I understand” ~E.O. “Ed” Wilson, 1929-2021

root plate

big tree blown horizontal
Blowing down a big tree, the force required to break the grip of a root plate is immense. A tall tree’s stem is a huge lever with branches that offer commodious sail area. Come a powerful wind, the tree is laid down. In time, we all fall down.

Europeans and their plants

smith lane gauntlet
English ivy, english privet, tree of heaven, japanese honeysuckle. Native plants displaced.
military woods
This is an artificial landscape, triangular planting of trees, 99% resident in the Tidewater. Waiting for the canopy to close then will work on understory…

differential emergence

bare bur oak
Microclimate, soil, genetics, on board afflictions. This Bur oak has yet to leaf out.

Fifty feet away is another individual who has had a flush of growth, producing new stems replete with leaves. Nature is an enduring mystery.