Watching Trees Grow

 

 

 

The Ornäs birch, (Swedish Ornäsbjörk) is a variety of silver birch which is also the national tree of Sweden. (Wikipedia)

The original Ornäs birch was discovered in 1767 in the village of Ornäs, in the central Swedish province of Dalarna. The man who discovered it sent a description of the tree to the University of Uppsala botanist Carl Linnaeus. Cuttings were taken from the original tree, from which all Ornäs birch trees have been propagated. The tree fell in a storm on 26 May 1890. Two new trees were planted in its place, taken from cuttings of the original tree. 

In 1985, the Ornäs birch was named as the national tree of Sweden, and examples have been planted in central locations in Swedish towns from Trelleborg in the south to Kiruna in the north.

The one in our town park here in Borås was planted in 1986 - which happens to be the same year that I moved here to live. So I'm used to just passing it without giving it much thought. But the other day I happened to stop and read that plaque on the stone, and ponder for a bit... No doubt the tree must have been quite small when it was first planted. But having walked by every now and then for 37 years, I can't say I really ever noticed it growing...

I asked the Bing Image Creator for a "woman watching a birch tree grow", and this is what I got:

Sunday Summary

Magnolia tree in the Town Park (30th April 2012),
for Straight Out of the Camera Sunday

The past week we had some really glorious pre-summer days with afternoon temperatures above +20 C, and clear blue skies like in the photos above.

Besides all the lovely pink cherry blossoms and white magnolias, the birches are turning green – and letting go of all their pollen with a big boom… well, not audible perhaps, but not unnoticed by all us allergics!

(Photo from last year)

So really hard just now to tell where my old virus-related bronchitis (since Easter) ends, and allergy problems begin! Yesterday we had a strong wind blowing all day and I knew there were lots of birch pollen in the air, so I stayed in (it was also rather grey and chilly so not all that tempting to go out anyway). Today the wind has calmed down and the sun seems to have come back out – so I suppose I shall venture a walk in a while.

Looking back in my photo archives, it seems spring sprang a little later this year than last year; but a little earlier than back in 2010. So I guess pretty normal! Somehow, even though we’ve been longing for it for months, it always seems to come as a bit of a surprise when it eventually does come.

Like how C.S. Lewis describes it in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:

… Only a few minutes later he noticed a dozen crocuses growing round the foot of an old tree – gold and purple and white. Then came a sound even more delicious than the sound of the water. Close beside the path they were following a bird suddenly chirped from the branch of a tree. It was answered by the chuckle of another bird a little further off. And then, as if that had been a signal, there was chattering and chirruping in every direction, and then a moment of full song, and within five minutes the whole  wood was ringing with birds’ music …

ABC Wednesday: Y

On New Year’s Eve, after waking up with a yawn, I felt the yearning to go out for a walk. And since I was in the mindset that day to look “way over yonder” for strange and wonderful things, my eyes also fell on this birch tree in the shape of the letter Y. “Yippee!” I said to myself. “Why look any further? Here’s the perfect Y for the very first ABC Wednesday in the year 2012!”

Yours,  Monica
a.k.a. DawnTreader

http://youtu.be/Hqx28TxMiZ0

ABC Wednesday - Y

Midsummer Eve

I woke up early to a grey sky but no rain.
I walked into town and took the bus out of town to Nowhere.

(Intet = nothing or nowhere)
(I love getting off the bus here)

I walked through the woods down to the lake,
where on this chilly morning I had the whole beach to myself.

Well – almost…

And from there through the birch wood…

… to the House…

… where I spent a couple of hours thinking, remembering …
and taking photos to help me continue doing the same at home.

The watercolour was painted by me in the garden in the mid 90’s.