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| Manzanita - these bushes/trees are quite interesting, with their twisting bark they make great décor but they are highly flammable. If an ember from a fire a couple miles away hits one of these it torches immediately and is so hot you can't get near it - take it from one who has thrown some of the branches in a burn pile and ended up with singed hair and holes in my jacket. We still have too much of it on our property but work on gradually clearing and thinning it - the acreage behind our property is all manzanita which is why I only have one escape route in case of fire, could never run out in that direction. Funny there is nothing mentioned in the Wikipedia write-up on that. |
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| Maple leaves |
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| Madrone Tree - these are one of my favorite trees here in Oregon. When we bought our first piece of land here we bought it for the beautiful madrones that would encircle the house once we built it. We lived on that property for 11 years before moving closer to town - we have numerous madrones on this property also mixed in with the firs, pine, cedars and those pesky manzanitas. Madrones lose their leaves in the summer and much of the bark too. It sounds like a herd of elephants on the property when the turkeys walk on top of the fallen, now dry and crunchy, fallen leaves. I'm always sad if we lose one of these trees but that tree goes on to become the best firewood for our wood stove insert ever - right now there's a dead one not far from the house that we will have to cut down this fall and it will keep us warm later this or next winter. |
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| A close up of a peeling madrone..... |
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| ......and a even closer-up photo of the peeling bark, it's very fun to find large sheets of the peeling bark as Bailey and I walk each morning - I haven't figured out a use for it yet but once I do I'll start collecting. |
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| Mountains looking to the south |
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| Mermaid - I fell in love with this immediately in a shop in Bandon and had to bring it back to live in the beach cottage |
I had no idea that Manzanita grew in Oregon. That's interesting. It's all over around here...in the higher desert areas and the mountains. I love the beautiful reddish branches and the pink flowers they have. I was surprised by your Madrone trees too. They look a lot like Eucalyptus trees...another very popular tree where I live. Are the black spots on your tree from a fire?
ReplyDeleteNo the black spots aren't from a fire - I'm not sure why they happen but I've always seen them, and some of the bark never seems to peel and looks like regular bark.
DeleteWe have madrones up here, too, but not as plentiful as southern Oregon. Once when Fran and Dave visited Dave remarked how surprised he was to see them so far north.
ReplyDeleteGreat "M" selections! I'm experimenting with sycamore bark for dyeing wool and wonder if the madrone bark could be used to make red dye? Hummmm...... We have Manzanita trees/bushes in SO AZ and it was terrible during the Monument Fire two years ago.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to ask some of my fiber friends if they've ever used madrone bark for dye.
DeleteInteresting fact about the Manzanita. I don't think those grow in Dallas, but I'm pretty familiar with seeing them out your way.
ReplyDeleteHmmm.. I wonder if that peeling bark has any dye in it....
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information that accompanied your Manzanita picture! I planted one in my front yard when I converted it to drought tolerant landscaping and didn't know about the fire hazard. The instructors where I took workshops on xeriscaping didn't mention it either. :-(
ReplyDeleteYour pix are great -- I love the Mermaid :-)