The Tree Year

Goodbye to the Tree Year

dreamfalcon — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 09:11:24 +0000

Dear Tree Year contributors and tree lovers

Now that the International Year of the Forest and 2011 ends, we say goodbye to this Tree Year Project.
In the spur of a moment exactly a year ago, last December, I decided to start this blogging project – and I loved it. In the beginning it suddenly was a lot of work and I would have liked to find a better way to share the posts of all of you. Then it got calmer and every now and then one of the contributors posted an update. There were over 60 participants from around the world. Even though we heard only once from some and more often from others, the idea seemed to be appealing and I bet that most of you couldn’t pass a tree (or *your* tree) this year without looking at it in a special way.
To bad, that Dusty didn’t manage to make the video for the mid-year “celebration” – but everybody had also other stuff on their mind, I’m sure.

Personally I’ve learnt a lot this year and I just wanna highlight two things:
- I always thought that there are only flower buds – now I know that also leaves can start in buds.
- All those initiatives on green roofs was new to me and I really like it.

There are a lot of other wonderful webpages, initiatives and great photos out there, and I’m sorry I wasn’t always able to visit, post the links or let you know about it somehow. People who care about nature are very important!
I wrote an article for “Save our Woods” about this project and mentioned there, that if somebody wants to continue with the Tree Year 2012, I’d be very happy and please contact me.
For now, I want to thank you all for contributing, sharing the idea and making a difference!

Peace,
Natalie aka dreamfalcon aka Ms Tree Year

P.S. I’d love to read your personal resume about your Tree Year!

The last Tree Year post on my Honeysuckle

dreamfalcon — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 08:10:39 +0000

My honeysuckle in the blue pot looks pretty much the same as it did a year ago: a lot of empty branches, some remaining brownish leaves and some berries to be picked by European Robins or other birds. It will have to wait until spring again for a direct ray of sun in the morning. Maybe there will be a bird family using the nest just above it as well. We had a very warm November and there are green buds and even one last flower waiting for another warm day before it opens.
But for now, the leave colors have been fading away into a funny purple.

They even got burned somehow by I don’t know what. Maybe the dirt in the air…

I haven’t seen many insects on the plant this year and I have decided that this is due to birds who have discovered it as a food source. Ok, last winter I did put the bird feeder right there, too.

I know that I will continue to watch what is happening on and around my tree – I hope you’ll do that, too!

Last Post on my Lunch Tree

dreamfalcon — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:39:44 +0000

It didn’t work out as planned: for Tree Year, instead of coffee and sweeties after lunch, I wanted to go see a tree and take photos and write about it. I was able to watch the seasons on that big linden tree from the terrace of our cantina though, not much more. But that’s how I noticed the crows building a nest. I was never sure if they really raised any chicks. Probably not, otherwise I would have seen the adults feeding and the chicks calling. But anyhow, without the leaves one can still see the nest. It looks pretty impressive.

September and October Treeyear

dreamfalcon — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:02:39 +0000

Looking back at two fall months and what some of the contributors reported:

Katie saw a Red-shoulderd Hawk and a Monarch on her coast Douglas-Fir (link). Lucinda did syrup with the berries from her Hawthorne (link).

Jen found out about edible parts of the birch and added some great photos from her fallen tree (link). And Juliet as well has some great fall photos of her Hornbeam (link).

the yellow of Juliet's Hornbeam

Please do tell us, how your tree is doing in this final weeks of the year!

The Hoverfly

dreamfalcon — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:17:56 +0000

It might have been one of the last mornings when my Honeysuckle gets some sun and I was able to take this photo of a Hoverfly (Syrphidae) enjoying what the plant provides. It’s probably a Marmelade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus – Hain-Schwebefliege).

September Challenge: Edible parts

dreamfalcon — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 11:50:33 +0000

In September we already celebrate the 9th month of the Tree Year Project.

Only recently I came across a most interesting book of Meret Bisegger called “My cuisine with wild plants” (on amazon in Italian, and German). She talks about all the edible stuff in trees and shrubs around us. Not only the fruit but also leaves, buds, roots etc.

I am interested in all the edible parts of your tree: do you know what parts of your tree can be eaten by humans? (Beside the obvious fruit of lets say an apple tree.)

I didn’t know that the young leaves and buds from the Linden tree can be used for salad. Even the flowers can be used. Now by the end of August, the leaves don’t look very edible anymore, the black most probably comes from the traffic.

A spider on my multitasking Honeysuckle

dreamfalcon — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:19:37 +0000

There are not many insects on my Honeysuckle this year. Maybe the birds eat everything before I see it. But now I have discovered a tiny little spider:

That shrub keeps surprising me with its tropical behavior – berries and new flowers at the same time. And there are at least another fifteen flower buds on it…

Tree Order: Sapindales

dreamfalcon — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 10:29:52 +0000

The Sapindales order is a large order. More than half of its species belong to two families: rue and maple.

genus Rutaceae

The Sumac Staghorn from Rebecca in West Virgina (too bad there are no updates from the summer)

genus Aeculus – Horse Chestnut

Gwendolen’s tree in the Netherlands

genus Acer – Maples

Sycamores from

Greg in the UK
Lucy in the UK (Is it really a Sycamore?)

Maples from

Michelle of Rambling Woods
Ivan on West Coast of the US

photo from Rambling Woods blog

Tree Order: Rosales – Mulberry and Elm Family

dreamfalcon — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:15:30 +0000

Two other families of the Rosales are the Moraceae (Mulberry family) and the Ulmaceae (Elm family). There are more families to the Rosales, but the Tree Year has contributions to those two families.

genus Maclura – Mulberry

Marqueta with a post on her Osage Orange (I would love to see how those fruit-balls develop now in fall!)

genus Ulmus – Elm

Georgia and the huge Elm Tree in New York City

photo from the local ecologist blog

Tree Year Project: second half of the year

dreamfalcon — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 09:49:14 +0000

In the second half of the year of the Tree Year Project a lot of the observed trees will start growing fruits in some sort. So please let us know how the fruits on your tree look like. There are already some posts > Tree Year Posts > about the tree > fruits

My honeysuckle has been blooming since January (one flower). It had the most flowers in spring and they have all turned into red berries. There are still new flowers developing – this shrub has everything on it at once: fruits, buds, flowers, green and brown leaves, seeds from last year…