[Magdalen] 2020d

[Jay Weigel]

I live among trees--about three of our 4 1/2 acres are wooded--and have
some strong opinions about a few of them. I have real mixed feelings about
the tulip poplars, which are not particularly good neighbors, being
somewhat more than messy and shedding branches in places I'd rather they
didn't. However, they do grow tall and provide homes for our squirrels and
birds (we have pileated woodpeckers on the property). We also have
hackberries, which I regard as little more than weeds as they seed
themselves EVERYWHERE, just like the invasive acanthus. I'm much friendlier
toward the sycamores and oaks, as well as the small flowering trees, the
redbuds and the dogwoods and something S/O calls a "whitebud", and also
most of the evergreens, although we have a couple in the front that aren't
doing well and need to be taken out. I don't like the locusts because I'm
highly allergic to their blooms and my nose and eyes run continuously when
they're in flower, but once that's done I can live with them. However, my
special animus is reserved for the black walnuts, with which we are
afflicted in number. They poison the soil, they throw nuts at the house and
cars (sometimes when they hit the roof just right they sound like bombs!)
and they're messy in the extreme. Those I could seriously do without. I've
offered ours to the Central Virginia Wood Turning Society if they want to
come take them out. So far, nothing.

On Thu, Jan 9, 2020 at 10:22 AM cantor03--- via Magdalen <
magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:

> My middle name should be "Trees."  I do talk to them now and then.  I
> admit toconifers being my favorite group of trees and am a long time member
> of theAmerican Conifer Society.  My favorite conifer genus is the pines.
> My son still giggleswhen he remembers our first trip to the Sierras in
> California when I hugged aroadside Sugar Pine (Pinus lambertiana, the first
> time I had seen  this species, thelargest of the soft pine group.
>
> My father was obsessed with linden (basswood) trees, and planted them
> whereverhe cou ld.  He was the linden equivalent of the famous Johnny
> Appleseed.  Heloved linden honey, too.
>
> The mention of persimmon trees reminds me of the several South Korean
> chestsI possess.  They are striking with their orangey wood and matched
> darkerpatterns.  They are, of course, the Asian Persimmon species.
>
> And there is that tale of my pulling out a rootbare tulip tree seedling
> from a crackin the parking lot of the local Procathedral.  I planted this
> in my yard here in thePennsylvania Poconos, never expecting such a little
> scraggly twig to survive.It is now 85' in height some 34 years later.
>
> Joyce Kilmer was right --- "I think that I shall never see a poem as
> lovely as a tree."
>
>
>
> David Strang.
>
>
>
>
>
> In a message dated 1/9/2020 9:48:46 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> cadyasoukup at gmail.com writes:
>
> I have "The Hidden Life of Trees" lined up as one of my next reads.
>