The trees are one of my favorite parts of Portland. We have three cherry trees in front that probably won't make it much longer but dang if I'll be the one who takes them out. We are on the side of the street without power lines so have more leeway -we planted three city trees in the last year - a crepe myrtle I'm not especially impressed by, a linden tree and a ponderosa. I like to think of that towering ponderosa long after I'm gone.
There is an old story,The Man Who Planted Trees, who altered the climate in a valley by planting trees, Johnny Appleseed style. Enchainting short read. We marvel at how our sagebrush landscape is being altered by people moving in to freshly-built houses. After they settle in and unpack all the boxes, they plant trees, all of which are loving the hot summers, with plenty of watering of course, and are growing into a forest. Autumn colors aorund here are spectacular. Meanwhile, we're planning to cut down three massive elms in our yards that snow upon us each spring with billions of tiny coins-like seeds. I've been pulling up the babies for months now and have discovered more to pick. If we let them grow as wildly as my wildflowers, we wouldn't be able to walk through the growth. We'll still have plenty of firs, though, for the birds to sleep in at night.
Yeah, it looks like the forager harvested these right off the tree while their still green, soft, and succulant. By the time they've fluttered to the ground, they're dry and unappetizing. Lambsquarters, thistle, dandelions, etc. are all edible too. My Uncle Harvey told me how his family kept themselves from starving by eating dandelion greens. Of course, they fried them in bacon grease. Anything's edible fried in bacon grease. YUM!
They descrecated that Norwegian tree. And the pine, amazing.
Now to the basement. My husband and I just emptied out an apt of 50 years worth of stuff. Too much transferred upstate to garage. It's endless, the accumulation over time.
I’ve always been impressed by the trees along McLoughlin Boulevard in the West Moreland neighborhood - majestic canopy of light and life! Thanks again for a delightful Sunday morning read!
I appreciate your attraction to trees ~ very similar to mine. Sometimes I’ll stop dead in my tracks for a tree that it so unique, or magnificent, or with amazing burls or root patterns, and just breathe. And usually take a picture. Have you seen the Plane trees on a triangle over in the Interstate Kaiser area? I walked over there while Scott was having his infusions and discovered them. They are on the historic register, if I recall correctly.
I did not know about Biro or Bic! And loved loved the tree portraits and what you had to say about the trees. Thanks much for this. We had a giant, very old (well over 150 years) white oak outside our house in Madison, Wisconsin. It was held together with metal cables and finally it fell. The cool thing was that one of its shoots (not sure what they're called) started growing and grew very quickly, much more quickly than other oak saplings planted in our neighborhood. I think it was benefitting from the enormous root system of its "mother" tree.
We lived there from 1992 until 2011 (or 2010??). My husband was an undergraduate there in the 70s and my brother was a graduate student there at about the same time. For both of them, George Mosse, who was in the history department, was an important mentor. My first conversation with my husband was about George ! (My husband and I met in Berkeley.) And my brother spoke to George about David to ascertain that he was good enough for me!
P.S. My husband's name is David Sorkin. I doubt your husband would have crossed paths with him or remember him if he had. UW was David's first very challenging step into the academic world. George helped!!
Those three elm trees around the corner from me on 27th are also something like 80 feet tall, and then there’s the catalpa across Main Street and the towering pine, again on 27th.
I always learn something interesting from you. Today about Lazlo Brio. I enjoy unique writing devices, especially vinatge.
I recently came upon a gorgeous tree in NE. And with goggles help I determined it to be a variegated dogwood. I had never noticed one before and now Im seeing them all over Portland!
I recently found among my mother‘s things her old Parker ballpoint. I was able to buy a new refill, and now I carry it with me. Mostly I write with refillable fountain pens, but sometimes it’s nice to have a smooth-writing ballpoint.
Interesting that the electrical workers told you that underground power lines weren’t feasible in the inner city. 100% of Manhattan’s power lines are underground. The outer boroughs are a mix, but even there, the majority are buried. It’s one of the reasons why we rarely lose power during intense weather (unless it floods or a substation blows its cookies). And I love these tree giveaways! NYC has a program too. ❤️🌲🌳
They just replaced the sewer lines in the street outside our house and didn’t bury the utility cables. I asked and got some guff about groundwater and tree roots. Cables are underground in downtown and new subdivisions, though.
We had street trees free plant two willow leaf oaks. They will get huge. They are 8 years old now and doing quite nicely. Roots are deep and don’t require much water. Nor any attention at all. I prune bottom branches carefully. Otherwise I can’t walk under them. But I don’t prune the tops or anywhere else.
I love trees and take photos of them all the time! There are glorious huge trees in Berkeley, too, and I've been reveling in them. Paris has some pretty spectacular ones too. Thanks for the little tour of Portland trees.
I especially remember the London plane trees that line Sproul Plaza and smell so wonderful in the spring. At least they did 50 years ago when I was a student there.
The trees are one of my favorite parts of Portland. We have three cherry trees in front that probably won't make it much longer but dang if I'll be the one who takes them out. We are on the side of the street without power lines so have more leeway -we planted three city trees in the last year - a crepe myrtle I'm not especially impressed by, a linden tree and a ponderosa. I like to think of that towering ponderosa long after I'm gone.
Lovely poem, I can relate
There is an old story,The Man Who Planted Trees, who altered the climate in a valley by planting trees, Johnny Appleseed style. Enchainting short read. We marvel at how our sagebrush landscape is being altered by people moving in to freshly-built houses. After they settle in and unpack all the boxes, they plant trees, all of which are loving the hot summers, with plenty of watering of course, and are growing into a forest. Autumn colors aorund here are spectacular. Meanwhile, we're planning to cut down three massive elms in our yards that snow upon us each spring with billions of tiny coins-like seeds. I've been pulling up the babies for months now and have discovered more to pick. If we let them grow as wildly as my wildflowers, we wouldn't be able to walk through the growth. We'll still have plenty of firs, though, for the birds to sleep in at night.
Those elm seeds are called samaras and they are edible. See https://foragerchef.com/elm-samaras/
Yeah, it looks like the forager harvested these right off the tree while their still green, soft, and succulant. By the time they've fluttered to the ground, they're dry and unappetizing. Lambsquarters, thistle, dandelions, etc. are all edible too. My Uncle Harvey told me how his family kept themselves from starving by eating dandelion greens. Of course, they fried them in bacon grease. Anything's edible fried in bacon grease. YUM!
They descrecated that Norwegian tree. And the pine, amazing.
Now to the basement. My husband and I just emptied out an apt of 50 years worth of stuff. Too much transferred upstate to garage. It's endless, the accumulation over time.
I’ve always been impressed by the trees along McLoughlin Boulevard in the West Moreland neighborhood - majestic canopy of light and life! Thanks again for a delightful Sunday morning read!
I appreciate your attraction to trees ~ very similar to mine. Sometimes I’ll stop dead in my tracks for a tree that it so unique, or magnificent, or with amazing burls or root patterns, and just breathe. And usually take a picture. Have you seen the Plane trees on a triangle over in the Interstate Kaiser area? I walked over there while Scott was having his infusions and discovered them. They are on the historic register, if I recall correctly.
Thanks, again, for a great Sunday morning read!
I did not know about Biro or Bic! And loved loved the tree portraits and what you had to say about the trees. Thanks much for this. We had a giant, very old (well over 150 years) white oak outside our house in Madison, Wisconsin. It was held together with metal cables and finally it fell. The cool thing was that one of its shoots (not sure what they're called) started growing and grew very quickly, much more quickly than other oak saplings planted in our neighborhood. I think it was benefitting from the enormous root system of its "mother" tree.
When did you live in Madison? My husband taught philosophy there during the Vietnam era.
We lived there from 1992 until 2011 (or 2010??). My husband was an undergraduate there in the 70s and my brother was a graduate student there at about the same time. For both of them, George Mosse, who was in the history department, was an important mentor. My first conversation with my husband was about George ! (My husband and I met in Berkeley.) And my brother spoke to George about David to ascertain that he was good enough for me!
My husband, Robert Jaffe, knew Mosse well.
I thought he might! George of blessed memory. Brilliant scholar and a wonderful man. His good influence continues!
They were actually pretty close friends. At one point, George wanted Bob to come live in Paris with him.
How great!
P.S. My husband's name is David Sorkin. I doubt your husband would have crossed paths with him or remember him if he had. UW was David's first very challenging step into the academic world. George helped!!
I knew about Biro but not about Bich/Bic. Great tree portraits.
Those three elm trees around the corner from me on 27th are also something like 80 feet tall, and then there’s the catalpa across Main Street and the towering pine, again on 27th.
Looks like you have a colorful basement.
I always learn something interesting from you. Today about Lazlo Brio. I enjoy unique writing devices, especially vinatge.
I recently came upon a gorgeous tree in NE. And with goggles help I determined it to be a variegated dogwood. I had never noticed one before and now Im seeing them all over Portland!
I recently found among my mother‘s things her old Parker ballpoint. I was able to buy a new refill, and now I carry it with me. Mostly I write with refillable fountain pens, but sometimes it’s nice to have a smooth-writing ballpoint.
Thank you for your beautiful con brio writing that is also fun to read! I like to find big Portland trees on the Heritage Tree map: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/ee7553a523f84a26ae1ccbee107db42e.
Oh! I forgot to include that link in the posting. There’s a big elm on the next corner from our house that’s a Heritage Tree.
Interesting that the electrical workers told you that underground power lines weren’t feasible in the inner city. 100% of Manhattan’s power lines are underground. The outer boroughs are a mix, but even there, the majority are buried. It’s one of the reasons why we rarely lose power during intense weather (unless it floods or a substation blows its cookies). And I love these tree giveaways! NYC has a program too. ❤️🌲🌳
They just replaced the sewer lines in the street outside our house and didn’t bury the utility cables. I asked and got some guff about groundwater and tree roots. Cables are underground in downtown and new subdivisions, though.
We had street trees free plant two willow leaf oaks. They will get huge. They are 8 years old now and doing quite nicely. Roots are deep and don’t require much water. Nor any attention at all. I prune bottom branches carefully. Otherwise I can’t walk under them. But I don’t prune the tops or anywhere else.
I love trees and take photos of them all the time! There are glorious huge trees in Berkeley, too, and I've been reveling in them. Paris has some pretty spectacular ones too. Thanks for the little tour of Portland trees.
I especially remember the London plane trees that line Sproul Plaza and smell so wonderful in the spring. At least they did 50 years ago when I was a student there.