Planting Trees

"Tanji and Friend"

One our our Christmas traditions is planting a new tree or two.

The boys are always ready to help.

Uschi inspects the potted pendulous blue spruce.

Some day it will have large climbable branches

When this little pine tree is older, it will turn bright yellow
in the winter, and return to green in the spring.

Here is an older cousin, golden-yellow for the holidays.

Trees provide the structure for the boys' outdoor adventures.

They are the borders of their yard, homes for birdies,

and golden opportunities for climbing.

The whole family loves the trees.

The bright-white bark of this birch tree

is beautiful on a frosty December day.

The lichens covering the branches are fungi with algae

inside and they give the trees green color, even in the winter.

Some of our conifers are now old enough to produce cones.

Uschi stares at a pine cone, it should be a fun toy,
but it is really fragrant and a bit sticky.

Vladi inspects a pile of cones, and seems to be
focused on the sugary sitka spruce cone.

"Licking Pine Cones"

Hopefully someday the boys will enjoy

the little trees we planted this year.

Tanji has a little tree of his own. Maybe he's
thinking of future tree-climbing adventures.

After a hard day of planting trees,
the boys snuggle for a rest.

"Home for the Holidays"

Previous ----- Home ----- Next