Photograph by Ireena Worthy on Flickr
In this stunning capture by Ireena Worthy we see a small fir tree (which has become a bonsai) growing atop a dead log in the waters of Fairy Lake, which is near Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.
Fairy Lake is a BC Forest Service campground located 110 km west of Victoria. It has an area of 82.3 acres (33.3 hectares) and it has a maximum depth of 18 feet and an elevation of 30 meters (98.4 ft.) [Source].
Located in the fertile agricultural region of Argentina’s ‘Pampas’ is a guitar shaped forest made up of over 7,000 cypress and eucalyptus trees. At over a kilometer in length (2/3 of a mile) the guitar shaped forest is quite visible for passing planes and satellites above. While it’s sheer size and scale is impressive as a piece of land art, the story of how it came to be is even more touching.
The guitar forest was planted by a farmer named Pedro Martin Ureta. Now 71-years old, it was him and his four kids that planted every individual tree decades ago. The inspiration came from Pedro’s wife, Graciela Yraizoz, who was flying in a plane over Pampa one day and noticed a farm, that through a fluke of topography, looked a bit like a milking pail.
Graciela proclaimed that they should do one better and make a giant guitar on their farm, as she always loved the instrument.
Then one day in 1977 she suddenly collapsed. She had suffered from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm and died shortly thereafter, carrying what would have been the family’s fifth child.
A couple years later, Pedro decided to honour his late wife’s wishes and create the guitar shaped forest she had always dreamed of. With the help of his children, they planted and nurtured roughly 7,000 trees. The figure-eight shaped body and star-shaped sound hole are made up of cypress trees, while the beautiful blue eucalyptus trees are used to represent the six strings.
Graciela Yraizoz
Photograph via luna on Pixdaus
In this stunning macro photograph we see dewdrops gathering on what appears to be a flower pistil. The dewdrops have formed the shape of a miniature tree and it’s all very beautiful. I came across the image on Pixdaus so I’m unsure if the ‘uploader’ is the original photographer.
A reverse image search on Google and Tineye led to a variety of blogs but no obvious source. Let us know in the comments if you know who took this fabulous close up!
Photograph by JIM BAHN
The General Sherman is a giant sequoia tree located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, California. By volume, it is the largest known living single stem tree on Earth. With a height of 83.8 metres (275 ft), a diameter of 7.7 metres (25 ft), an estimated bole (trunk) volume of 1,487 cubic metres (52,513 cu ft), and an estimated age of 2,300 – 2,700 years.
In 1879 this tree was named after American Civil War general, William Tecumseh Sherman, by naturalist James Wolverton, who had served as a lieutenant in the 9th Indiana Cavalry under Sherman. In 1931, following comparisons with the nearby General Grant tree, General Sherman was identified as the largest tree in the world. One result of this process was that wood volume became widely accepted as the standard for establishing and comparing the size of different trees. [Source]
Photograph by Amanda Pope @ About Unknown (abt-unk.blogpost.ca)
Posted to Reddit earlier today, this gorgeous photograph by Amanda Pope shows a group of Rainbow Eucalyptus trees spotted just off the Hana Highway in east Maui.
Eucalyptus deglupta is a tall tree, commonly known as the Rainbow Eucalyptus, the Mindanao Gum, or the Rainbow Gum. It is the only Eucalyptus species found naturally in the Northern Hemisphere. Its natural distribution spans New Britain, New Guinea, Ceram, Sulawesi and Mindanao. The unique multi-hued bark is the most distinctive feature of the tree. Patches of outer bark are shed annually at different times, showing a bright green inner bark. This then darkens and matures to give blue, purple, orange and then maroon tones.
In the present day this tree is grown widely around the world in tree plantations, mainly for pulpwood used in making paper. It is the dominant species used for pulpwood plantations in the Philippines. It is also cultivated as an ornamental tree for planting in tropical and subtropical climate gardens and parks. [Source: Wikipedia]
The annual Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting ceremony took place on the evening of November 30, 2011 where a 74-foot Norway Spruce was illuminated by 30,000 lights and a Swarovski star featuring 25,000 crystal at the top of the tree. Neil Diamond, Michael Bublé, and Cee Lo Green serenaded the crowd of onlookers along with taped performances from Justin Bieber and Tony Bennett. The Rockettes also made their annual appearance at the tree lighting festivities.
via Tree lightning ceremony at Rockefeller Center « Hungeree.
In the depths of northeastern India, bridges aren’t built—they’re grown. The Ficus elastica produces a series of secondary roots from higher up its trunk and can comfortably perch atop huge boulders along the riverbanks, or even in the middle of the rivers themselves. The War-Khasis, a tribe in Meghalaya, long ago noticed this tree and saw in its powerful roots an opportunity to easily cross the area’s many rivers. Now, whenever and wherever the need arises, they simply grow their bridges.
In order to make a rubber tree’s roots grow in the right direction—say, over a river—the Khasis use betel nut trunks, sliced down the middle and hollowed out, to create root-guidance systems. The thin, tender roots of the rubber tree, prevented from fanning out by the betel nut trunks, grow straight out. When they reach the other side of the river, they’re allowed to take root in the soil. Given enough time, a sturdy, living bridge is produced.
The root bridges, some of which are over a hundred feet long, take ten to fifteen years to become fully functional, but they’re extraordinarily strong, with some of them able to support the weight of fifty or more people at a time. Because they are alive and still growing, the bridges actually gain strength over time. Some of the ancient root bridges used daily by the people of the villages around Cherrapunji may be well over 500 years old. [Source: ATLAS OBSCURA]
via Picture of the Day: Living Root Bridges of Meghalaya, India.
