Festival of the Trees 10

Welcome to the 10th edition of The Festival of the Trees, a monthly blog carnival for all things arboreal.

I received a very diverse selection of links for this edition. I've included almost all of them, even though some are only tenuously connected to trees. The only link I decided to leave out was a splog post about bonsai cultivation, which had been plagiarised from another source.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed!

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Given the date, it seems appropriate to begin with a tree-related news story, first broadcast 50 years ago today on the BBC's Panorama programme. It concerns the impact of unseasonably warm weather on the Spaghetti Trees of Switzerland.

"It isn't only in Britain that Spring this year has taken everyone by surprise. Here in Ticino on the borders of Switzerland and Italy, the slopes overlooking Lake Lugano have already burst into flower... at least a fortnight earlier than usual.

But what, you may ask, has the early and welcome arrival of bees and blossom to do with food? Well, it's simply that the past winter, one of the mildest in living memory has had its effects in other ways as well. Most important of all, it's resulted in an exceptionally heavy spaghetti crop.

The last two weeks of March are an anxious time for the spaghetti farmer. There's always a chance of a late frost which, whilst not entirely ruining the crop, generally impairs the flavour and makes it difficult for him to obtain top prices in world markets. But now these dangers are over and the spaghetti harvest goes forward..."

You can watch the full report here.

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Special Trees

JLB of Arboreality has found Mr Lauder's Walking Stick in the Garden.

Over at Windywillow, Silvia relates the story of Elisabet the Horse Chestnut.

Jams of The Poor Mouth presents some pictures of one of Britain's rarest native trees, the Black Poplar, snapped on a visit to The Chase Local Nature Reserve in London.

Miconia has discovered The Two-faced Miconia in A Neotropical Savanna.

In a post called Tree Hugger, Jen of Vox Hortus tells of her love affairs with trees.

Lucy of Box Elder describes the trees, living and dead, that are distinctive features of Valley # 2.

Tree Ecology

Over at Birds Etcetera, John is Delving into Tree-Cavity Ecology. Are those big holes really evidence that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker still survives?

Rurality serves up two posts about rusts:  Eastern Gall Rust and  Orange goo.

Tree Art

Nature photographer Mike Moats encourages us to have Fun With Beech Leaves.

The World According To Carl explains how a Mississippi sculptor is Creating Beauty From Destruction in the wake of Katrina.

Crafty Green Poet presents an oil painting of a Dead Tree in Malawi.

"Don't you just love the way snow highlights every curve on those trees?" asks JLB of Arboreality in a post called Fresh Snow in Philadelphia.

Tree Traditions

On his blog Walking the Berkshires, GreenmanTim says that, despite the snow it's time to Spring Forward and tap the maple.

Flickrblog has a post about Hanami, the Japanese cherry blossom festival.

My own contribution is a post about the seasonal link between Palm, Willow and Yew.

Vanishing Trees

In The cloud of unmaking, posted at via negativa, Dave weaves an intriguing tale of a declining forest.

Aydin of Snail's Tales relates the story of The Last Tree at Little Seneca Lake.

Walking with Trees

Alone on a Limb, Terrell describes The Best Wildflower Walk in Georgia.

In a post called If The Trees Could Talk, Mr Besilly offers to take us on a virtual walk through the forest.

Working with Trees

In Fragments from Floyd, Fred presents a post called Leaving the Best: Sustainable Forestry.

Living in Trees

Over at Dzonoqua's Whistle, Celeste presents some fascinating pictures of Stump Homes built within the remains of giant trees.

Growing Your Own

In Tree Notes, Genevieve offers some Tips for Buying a Tree.

Odds 'n' Ends

Praveen lists the Top 10 Surprising Results of Global Warming on Tao of Simplicity.

Thanks to Digi-Birder for sending me a link to the Woodland Heritage Champions Project, a new initiative that aims to promote interest in ancient woods of England by producing a Woodland Heritage Manual to help people discover the history of their woodland.

Ribblesider presents Ribble Coast & Wetlands - the Ribble becomes a Regional Park posted at Ribble Cycle Diaries.

"My roots are deep and my branches strong" says Mr Besilly in The Best Time To Plant A Tree.

Jon Swift asks What Kind of a Tree Is Scooter Libby?

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For the May 1st edition of Festival of the Trees at Flatbush Gardener, please send your links to: festival (dot) trees (at) gmail (dot) com; deadline April 29; all tree-related links are welcome, but Xris is especially interested into those that fit the theme "Trees in the Concrete" (trees in urban and suburbn landscapes).

View blog reactions

Comments

[Lucy]

This looks great,Roger, and I'm really looking forward to going exploring. Good to see what looks like a good number from this side of the Atlantic, and a stroke of genius to remember the spaghetti trees!

[pablo]

Excellent collection of links! Thank you for hosting this Festival.

[Rurality]

The spaghetti trees, a classic! This is one of the better organized festival/carnival type posts I've seen. Thanks!

[Kelly Schmitt Youngberg]

Nice festival, and my compliments for remembering the date.

[Crafty Green Poet]

Excellent! I look forward to browsing everyone's posts and thanks for the spaghetti trees, I remember seeing that (though it must have been a repeat, I'm not old enough to have seen it first time round!).

[Larry Ayers]

Nice job, Roger! A pleasant diversion for a sunny spring afternoon...

[bill]

Don't forget this April Fool's tree story:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4571982

[Roger B.]

Nice one Bill!

[JLB]

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! You've done a superb job Roger. Thank you for all your hard work in composing another great festival!