Many of us (even most) have at least one tree in our lives which has stood out for some reason. In some cases the “Memorable Tree” may be one we hung a swing on, or built a tree house in. Being brought up in a small city in Upstate New York gave me the opportunity, at an early age, to discover the wonder of trees and the special effects they can have on us. I have these listed in alphabetical order, by common name, in order that you be able find them more readily.
Ash, White – Standing alone in the center of our yard was a great White Ash tree (2nd base, as it were) which offered grandeur shade, until its demise as a result of an insect infestation in the mid 70’s.
Horse Chestnut – The most memorable of all of the trees thus far in my life has to be the Horse Chestnut tree which grew on the corner of the lot at our Amsterdam, NY family home. This tree had obviously been hit by a car, sometime before we moved into the home, as witnessed by the large wound on the street side of the large trunk, which someone had covered with mortar, the tree gradually healing over. This tree blessed us with fragrant spring flowers as well as a spiny husk covered chestnut in the fall. As kids, we would take the chestnuts and drive a small nail through them, allowing us to string the nuts together into necklaces and bracelets. This was the only tree on the property destroyed in 1989 when a small tornado skipped through the neighborhoods.
Oak, Northern Red – Our family property also had an abundance of Northern Red Oak trees on the site. One of these served as first base for our front yard ball games, others served as obstacles for sledding. All of these served as shade from the heat, piles of autumn leaves for jumping in and highways and luncheonettes for the local gray squirrel population.
Oak, Shrub Live – During my time in southwestern New Mexico, I became acquainted with some tree species not found in northern and/or wetter climes. In particular, I found solace in sitting with a stand of Shrub Live Oak, in the chicken yard, at the property where I was living. While the name implies this to be more of a shrub than a tree, this form of Oak can get to be 15-20′ tall, in time. Not a fast growing tree, the wood is very dense and sturdy. This particular stand of trees had branches growing down and out to a point that we had to duck under them, in order to maneuver around the yard. I went through, at one point and cut a great deal of the dead and lower limbs out of these trees, which created more of a cathedral type space underneath, and offered an elegance to the stand. I felt a calling to these trees. In fact, my sense of these trees is what drew me back to the “woods”, in general. I could sit under these trees and feel a sense of spirituality and connection to the environment, like never felt before. Indeed, I can honestly say that sitting in this grove and even standing betwixt the stems themselves helped to open a door to the knowledge within me, from even lives past.
Pine, Red – My first hand introduction to Red Pine came about in 1974, in Massachusetts, at a property where I took a job cutting the same for production in a post and pole operation. These trees had been planted in rows, to cover former farm land at a site that had been converted to a huge reservoir. As so planted I learned how to be accurate at felling trees in tight situations, which later served to aid in my continued work as a faller for a logging company in Colorado.
Pine, Eastern White – During my time in the Red Pine plantations, I had just completed dropping a row of Red Pine when I was presented with the grandest Eastern White Pine I had ever seen. White Pine is known for its growth habit of straight vertical growth. In the event that the leader of this species should be destroyed, the next whorl of branches vie for the lead until one wins. In some cases, this vertical challenge never culminates in a decided single leader. In the event that a White Pine should be layed over in its younger years by snow or other force, the limbs on the up side take on the task of becoming individual tree stems in a similar fashion to the leader challenge. This particular White Pine that I found myself standing in front of measured close to 3′ across and went up about 8′ before spreading out into a perfect candelabra, with 4 stems continuing a straight vertical run of another 100′. The end result of this site left me anticipating the sound of a choir of angels singing in soprano a single syllable, “AAAAAHHHHHH”.
when I was very young, my grandparents, who were farm folk and lived in the country, had one, huge, single tree in their front yard. I have no idea what kind of tree it was. the branches started very high from the ground and the tree was so great in circumference that it was impossible to climb for us little grandkids–a great personal frustration and a peril that our grandparents never had to incessantly warn us against.
many years later, and finding myself in that area, I was greatly disappointed to find that this tree was gone. not because I had the intimate relationship of one who had actually climbed it, but because it “stood” for something in my imagination: an impossible obstacle, its dominance over the property, its power? I don’t know exactly, but I think this is what pete is referring to, the mystery of our relationship with these arborial kings/queens.