Leafy Lie Lane
Shirofugen cherry tree leaves.
These leaves and the tree whence they fell are something of a puzzle to me. The interesting thing is that they come not from the tree in my garden (about which I shall doubtless be waxing lyrical once again come May) but from a tree planted in public ground by a lane just down from where I live.
This particular tree is a much older one than the one I have and is in the splendour of its maturity. It has a gorgeous spreading habit: it’s about 30 feet or more wide and twenty tall.
The Shirofugen is an exquisite variety with pendular double flowers borne in profusion. Both the leaves and the flowers change colour in subtle and quite entrancing ways…
But how did this rather rare variety get to be planted in a public space? Usually the local authority will plant Kanzan cherries as they are a lot cheaper. These flower early and are much more upright and brighter pink. Nice trees but they are ubiquitously common and lack the spreading habit and the subtleties of the Shirofugen.
We may never know how it got there, but I’m glad it did :)
Some people think leaves die but I don't think they do really. The life is in the tree, and this is just its way of taking all the minerals back into its trunk and roots for winter (which is why the leaves change colour as the chlorophyll is broken down) and discarding its outer skin that’s served its purpose well for the year. All new next year!
And finally I will observe that piles of leaves are a pain to photograph, as hundreds of my ‘experiments’ over the years have happily proved :)
Thank you for taking the time to look. I hope you enjoy the image.
Leafy Lie Lane
Shirofugen cherry tree leaves.
These leaves and the tree whence they fell are something of a puzzle to me. The interesting thing is that they come not from the tree in my garden (about which I shall doubtless be waxing lyrical once again come May) but from a tree planted in public ground by a lane just down from where I live.
This particular tree is a much older one than the one I have and is in the splendour of its maturity. It has a gorgeous spreading habit: it’s about 30 feet or more wide and twenty tall.
The Shirofugen is an exquisite variety with pendular double flowers borne in profusion. Both the leaves and the flowers change colour in subtle and quite entrancing ways…
But how did this rather rare variety get to be planted in a public space? Usually the local authority will plant Kanzan cherries as they are a lot cheaper. These flower early and are much more upright and brighter pink. Nice trees but they are ubiquitously common and lack the spreading habit and the subtleties of the Shirofugen.
We may never know how it got there, but I’m glad it did :)
Some people think leaves die but I don't think they do really. The life is in the tree, and this is just its way of taking all the minerals back into its trunk and roots for winter (which is why the leaves change colour as the chlorophyll is broken down) and discarding its outer skin that’s served its purpose well for the year. All new next year!
And finally I will observe that piles of leaves are a pain to photograph, as hundreds of my ‘experiments’ over the years have happily proved :)
Thank you for taking the time to look. I hope you enjoy the image.