Persimmon - Diospyros virginiana

Ebenaceae - Ebony Family
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 24
Persimmon
Diospyros virginiana

The word Diospyros means "the fruit of the gods" in ancient Greek.

Spring

Persimmon Tree in the Spring
The green is very vibrant in the early morning spring light.
This tree lives at the Asheville Botanical Gardens.

http://www.ashevillebotanicalgardens.org/.

Persimmon Flower.  Thank you to Wikimedia commons for the use of this beautiful persimmon flower .   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Persimmon_0375.jpg

This is a female Persimmon flower.  Both female and male flowers grow on the Persimmon tree.

Summer

Persimmon leaf teas have been used for many years in China, Japan, and in Korea.  These teas have been said to have numerous health benefits.  Benefits to health include improving blood lipid values, skin health, colon health, and many other health benefits have been reported as far back at 1000 years.

Persimmon fruit growing in the summertime

Fall

Persimmon fruit growing in West Virginia in the fall.  Photo by Robert Priddy

Persimmon in the fall.

The fruit before it ripens is very astringent.  I wanted to know what that meant, astringent.  So, I tasted a a persimmon back in June when the fruit was green.  I discovered what astringent means.  It means every single drop of moisture in your mouth is sucked out.  I had the driest mouth I ever had in my whole life.  So, today, needless to say, I was a bit skeptical to try and taste this now ripe fruit.  I have heard it said, not to eat the persimmon until they start to fall from the tree.  For, then and only then, are they ripe.  Well, today, on my walk about, there were persimmons on the ground.

So, I picked one up off the ground and I felt the persimmon.  It was quite soft.  I smelled the persimmon, I did notice a sweet-like scent, that was new to me.  After touching and smelling, I decided to taste.  I bit into the soft flesh of the persimmon fruit.  I was so amazed at what I tasted.  The fruit was so sweet, like a heavenly date-like nectar.  I had to taste more.  They were all a gift from the tree.  I thanked the tree and will be sure to go back tomorrow for another taste of heaven.

May you all find a persimmon tree on just the right fall day

Winter

Persimmon Tree that lives at the Asheville Botanical Gardens

The bark of the Persimmon tree is distinctive with a dark deeply-fissured, rectangular blocks.  The Persimmon tree is native to the eastern US.

From Wikipedia:  "In philosophy, the painting of persimmons by Mu Qi (13th Century) exemplifies the progression from youth to age as a symbol of the progression from bitterness to sweetness. The persimmon when young is bitter and inedible, but as it ages it becomes sweet and beneficial to humankind. Thus, as we age, we overcome rigidity and prejudice and attain compassion and sweetness. Mu Qi's painting of six persimmons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Persimmons) is considered a masterpiece."

For the love of the trees,

Rebecca

The Apple tree and a poem

Apple Tree

“There is a pleasure in

the pathless woods,

There is a rapture on the

lonely shore,

There is society, where

none intrudes,

By the deep sea, and

music in its roar:

I love not man the less,

but Nature more.”

-Lord Byron

For the love of the trees,

Rebecca

Eastern Red Cedar - Juniperus virginiana - A Year With the Trees, tree number 23

Cupressaceae - Cypress Family
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 23
Eastern Red Cedar
Juniperus virginiana

Eastern red cedar is actually not a cedar. It is a juniper. The red cedar is the most common native conifer in the Eastern United States. Its seeds are spread by cedar waxwings and other birds that eat the blue seed cones. The berries are so blue!

Spring

Juniperus virginiana

The small pink flowers on the Red Cedar will turn into a blue berry-like cone.

This next image is a Red Cedar tree with a Rust Gall.  These are quite interesting.  These do not harm the Cedar tree; yet they are cause much havoc to apple and crab apple trees.

Cedar Apple Rust

These trees are so important to the birds in the winter. The berry-like cones provide food during the winter months. Cedar waxwings, American Robin, Northern Bobwhite, Turkey, Starling, Mourning Dove, Northern Mockingbird, Purple Finch, American Crow, Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, and the Eastern Bluebird all eat the berry-like cones of this tree. If you want birds to come visit where you live, plant these trees and enjoy.

Summer

Eastern Red Cedar - Juniperus virginiana

The Red Cedar is important to wildlife, it is beautiful, and it lives a very long time (400 plus years). The berries (cones) on this tree are colorful and used in herbal medicine as well as providing food for birds. The bark is colorful, interesting, and smells wonderful.

This Juniperus virginiana tree is filled with blue berry-like female cones.

Fall

Juniperus virginiana in September in Arkansas

Winter

I took these winter images today,  the evergreen foliage stays on the cedar tree all winter long.  This Eastern Red Cedar lives at Priddy Woods, and is my favorite Cedar tree.  It faces the sunset and just shines with light through its boughs every evening.  I am grateful for the peace I always feel when I watch the sunset through the branches where he light is caught in each little green whorled stem.   

For the love of the trees,
Becky

Scarlet Oak

Fagaceae  Family - Scarlet Oak
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 38
Quercus coccinea

The scarlet oak that dropped these leaves about a week ago, shares the same land I live on.  I watch and visit with this magnificent tree all year round.  The day these leaves fell, it was cold and windy.  I picked up these beautiful scarlet colored leaves and took this photo on white paper to be able to really see the scarlet color,  

I am so grateful for the trees I live beside.  To see the birds that visit the tree, to hear the wind in tree branches, to breath in the fresh air, to feel the leaves falling around me, and to touch the strong bark with my hands, these moments always bring me to the present moment.  Being present is what helps to keep me calm in what often seems a chaotic world filled with too much to do.  

Enjoy finding your own moments by a tree and embracing the time with all your senses.

My practice for the past 15 years has been to visit each of the 93 trees on this blog once per season. When I am with the tree, I am quiet and use all my senses.  Sight, hearing, smell, touch, and even tasting when possible..  These trees have become part of me; I have a love for trees that makes me who I am.  

My favorite visits with the trees include carrying my journal and writing about my time with the tree. Writing about the birds that were there with me and the tree, the weather, the leaves, the limbs, the fruits and anything I feel about the tree and anything I feel the tree communicating with me.  I might add a drawing of a leaf or the trunk or the fruit.  Anything goes. 

For the love of the trees,
Becky

Winter at the Botanical Gardens in Asheville, North Carolina 2025

I went to the Botanical Gardens yesterday with Brooke, my daughter, we had not been there since Hurricane Helene came through Asheville.  The Gardens were closed to visitors for months and this is the first time we observed the changes that happened when the storm came through.

We walked  to sycamore meadow and saw the magestic sycamore was down on the ground.  I felt shock and awe and sadness and hope all at once.  

I also felt grateful that the Botanical Gardens will leave the Sycamore tree where it lays.  This meadow was named for the cluster of sycamore trees in this area of the gardens.  This meadow is also the home of another special sycamore, the Moon tree, whose seeds flew to the moon and back aboard the Apollo spaceship.

The botanical gardens at asheville are currently working on preparing the fallen Sycamore tree so the visitors that come to the garden will be free to interact with the tree by touching and sitting on the fallen Sycamore tree. 

This is my page from my “A Year With the Trees” journal.  You can see where Brooke drew the outline of the trunk as it lays on the ground. 

If you get a chance go visit the beautiful Sycamore meadow at the botanical gardens of Asheviile.  

Peace,

Becky Priddy

Aceraceae - Maple Family 

Box Elder

"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 1

January 1

April 1

July 1

October 1

Spring

Box Elder drawing by  Brooke Priddy Conrad

The Box Elder in the light of a spring day

When I started writing my Journal Book called, A Year With the Trees, I began with the Box Elder Tree.  This is the tree I studied on January 1st for the Winter Box Elder tree.  I returned again on April 1st and on July 1st and October 1st.  I  visited each of the 93 trees in all four seasons.  The springtime Box Elder is my favorite tree at this time of year.  When you see the incredible light on the pale new green leaves, you will know why it is favorite.  I started this tree journey in 2010; now I have 93 incredible species that I call my tree friends.  

Find your own Box Elder Friend and get to know that tree in all its beautiful seasons. Sit with the tree and look into it's branches.  See how it changes throughout the year and see what feelings you experience as you become still and just breathe under this tree's branches.  For me, I feel Peace; and we can all use more peace everyday.  Let me know if you want to know where you can find my favorite Box Elder.  

You can find more info in this blog about the box elder by finding its name in the labels.

For the love of the trees,
Becky

Phenology -My Practice of Phenology at Priddy Woods - What is Phenology?

 My practice of Phenology at Priddy Woods

I have a practice of phenology at Priddy Woods.  At Priddy Woods I have currently 24 tree companions. I visit them every day I am at Priddy Woods.  I look into their branches and see what is happening.  I watch their leaves unfold,  the flowers bloom, the leaves change color in the fall; and I watch the leaves fall to the earth.  I am bringing awareness of the change of the seasons and how it shows up in nature and my life.  I am noticing nature's changes in the trees, the birds, the animals and myself, my family, and friends.  

I am a phenologist, I study the timing of the life cycle events in plants and animals.  However, to me, this is not just a "study", it is a practice of awareness and being grateful as well as a daily prayer that our grandchildren and their grandchildren for many generations may also witness the amazing life cycles of trees and flowers and birds and animals that share our earth with us.

What is phenology?

I quote from Natures Notebook,  

"Phenology is the study of the timing of life cycle events in plants and animals, their recurrence, and relationship to the environment. 

Phenology is nature’s calendar—when cherry trees bloom, when a robin builds its nest and when leaves turn color in the fall.

Phenology is pollinators visiting open flowers to aid in reproduction, elk making mating calls, and a tadpole turning into a frog."

Slash Pine

 Dauphin Island, Alabama

February 3, 2023

This tree is the magnificent Slash Pine Tree.  It is a long needled pine that thrives here on the coast of Alabama.  This tree is a protector of the land and water and air.  That is why I call this tree magnificent.  It is also so beautiful with its red plated bark and the sunshine catching on its needles and lighting up the sky.

The Slash pine’s shallow roots grow together and help hold the land in place during all the storms.  Their roots clean the water that flows to this part of the country. The needles clean our air and the trees provide much needed shade for the health of our waters, land, and people.

I was fortunate to make my way to the sea lab on Dauphin Island.  I met Lori who works there and she told me about the Audubon trail markers that describe the Slash Pine and the Longleaf Pine.  I found that marker and the photos are included here.  

Lori is on the board of the Dauphin Island Foundation.  This foundation promotes community services and environmental conservation.  They are working on a tree project that will educate people about the ecosystem of the maritime forest on the island.  

Each part of the ecosystem is vital for the protection of the island.  Protection from land loss, wind shear, temperature fluctuations, and flooding.

Lori is now my tree sister.  She inspires me to find more tree sisters and brothers along my path of life.  Thank you Lori, for speaking for the trees, for caring, and sharing!

Speaking for the trees,

Becky 

“ Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It’s not.”  The Lorax

Fall is in the air

 I have been out in nature the past 10 days observing the signs of fall.  I am using my senses when out in nature to be more observant and aware of my surroundings.  I feel more presence in my life when I am observing and being a part of the nature around me.

I saw the light change in the past week or two from summer light to fall light?   Have you noticed it?

I saw the change in the light.  The light is lower in the sky, getting light later in the morning and getting  dark earlier in the evening.  The light comes through the trees lower and with a richer golden color.

I saw a few leaves change, like the red maple tree picture in this post as well as the blush of the dogwood starting.  This is just the start of fall color change that usually does begin this time of year.

I saw acorns on the ground and walnuts falling out of walnut trees.

I saw fall wildflowers in full bloom with bees working the flowers for their honey.

I saw sunsets that made me tear up with joy over the blue mountains of the Appalachian range.

I heard the sound of leaves falling in the wind and the sound of falling walnuts and acorns.

I smelled, the rich balsam smell of fir trees in the forest as walked.  I smelled the earthy smell of the deep soil of the forest floor covered in moss and lichens and ferns and mushrooms and fallen trees from many years past.

I felt the cold chill of early autumn air.  And I felt the wind on my face, and the sun on my skin.  I felt the soft floor of the forest floor, softened by many years of leaves and moss.

I tasted the air as I breathed it in.  Amazing, clean, pure air.  It tasted whole and like how air is meant to taste.

I was in Greyson Highlands State Park in Virginia and Roan Mountain State Park in Tennessee.  I hiked on the AT in Virginia and Tennessee.  A most beautiful fall is starting.

For those of you reading this, get outside and be present with nature observing with all of your senses. As you do, perhaps you can write down what you experienced.  

If you would like to share, please share with me or a friend or family member.  

I will make a point to write more frequently here.  I will be outside daily making my phenology observations and sharing when I can.

Look back here for more info on my phenology project and what exactly is phenology.  I will share where I record my observations and my phenology trail at Priddy Woods.  

Here is a very interesting and education link to the USA National Phenology Network.

Phenology Network

Until next time,

Becky Priddy 

.

Carolina Hemlock - Tsuga caroliniana

Pinaceae - Pine Family
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 76
Carolina Hemlock Tree
Tsuga caroliniana

Spring

The Carolina Hemlock

This tree lives at the Asheville Botanical Gardens.  https://ashevillebotanicalgardens.org/
The Carolina Hemlock splays her needles all around the twig; this is the way to distinguish it from the Eastern Hemlock, which lays his needles flat on top, like a blanket.

Summer

Carolina Hemlock that has the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid living on it.

New spring growth on another Carolina Hemlock that does not have the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid living in it's branches.  

The Hemlock Wooly Adelgid is living on this Carolina Hemlock.  The Hemlock Wooly Adelgid is native to Asia and came to the Southern Appalachians in the 1950's.  This adelgid lives and breeds unchecked as this species has no predator in this part of the world.  The adelgid is sucking the sap out of the hemlock trees and causing them to die.  You can tell when a Hemlock has an infestation of the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid for it has white patches of a wooly substance which is actually what the Adelgid wraps their eggs in.

There is research going on in how to stop this infestation.  There are different methods being used and studied.  You can read more at https://savehemlocksnc.org/

Fall 

The Carolina Hemlock

This Carolina Hemlock lives at the Asheville Botanical Gardens. ashevillebotanicalgardens.org.

The location of this Carolina Hemlock is interesting for it is very close to a Tsuga Canadensis. Because they are so close it is easy to see the difference in the two species. The biggest difference I could see was in the size of the needles, cones, and twigs. In comparing these two trees, the Carolina Hemlock had the largest needles and cones; although there was not a great deal of difference, it was noticeable. The Eastern Hemlock twigs were slightly thicker and the sprays of needles appear to be flatter on the Eastern Hemlock and more all around the twig on the Carolina Hemlock.

Winter

This tree only lives in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. I visited this tree at the Asheville Botanical Gardens.  www.ashevillebotanicalgardens.org

The Champion Carolina Hemlock Tree

The American Forest National Champion Carolina Hemlock Tree lives in Buncombe County, North Carolina.  It is 74 feet tall and has a circumference of 128 inches.
http://www.americanforests.org/big-trees/carolina-hemlock-tsuga-caroliniana-2/

I hope to find this tree and photograph and draw it.  Check back for that soon.

My favorite Carolina Hemlock Tree

My favorite Carolina Hemlock lives at the Botanical Gardens of Asheville.

For the love of the trees,
Becky

from my journal....

Fall on the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Smokey Mountain National Park

Fall is in the air in Asheville, North Carolina, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Cataloochee.    I took a drive on the Parkway and also camped at Cataloochee a few days ago and here are some of the beautiful sights that spoke to my soul.  If you are near the Parkway, take a trip to see nature's beauty and fill your soul with the blessings of earth!

Fall Evening on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Sunset in October.

Fall Evening on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Sunset in October

Flowering Dogwood, 

Mountain Ash, Sorbus americana

Mountain Ash, Sorbus americana

Mountain Ash, Sorbus americana

Black Gum, Nyssa sylvatica

Black Gum, Nyssa sylvatica

Black Gum, Nyssa sylvatica