the zig-zag tree, the wounded tree, the blown over tree, and the chopped down tree. All oak trees except for the zig-zag tree.
Let us start with the zig-zag tree I photographed 24 May 2021 and later painted for a post. Here it is in 2026:
Sun
P o w e r s
Trees.
Rain
N o u r i s h e s
Trees
Ok that is good but what about this?
Sun
S c a l d s
Trees
And
Rain
S u f f o c a t e s
Trees.
Sun and rain and the zig-zag tree.
A self – seeded -tree once a sappling in a ditch now ‘sturdy-scarred’,
holding fine branches covered in twigs and sun grabbing leaves.
The zig- zag tree, with a zag then a zig, and another and another and another, thinner and ever slimmer with a zig and a zag
til lit by the sun above the middle of the lane.
Then a little further down the lane is the wounded tree. I wrote about this tree when with no wind blowing, it dropped a large main branch with an almighty thud. Here it is now.
The scar which took out a lot of the bark on the trunk is covered by ivy. Large, thick curtains of it. We all left it to heal through the years.
A process.
A process trees carry out naturally of isolating damage through building distinct chemical and physical boundaries around the wounded area.
They build three walls:
Wall 1 vascular tissue plugs to slow vertical spread up and down the trunk.
Wall 2 inward dense wood growth rings to prevent decay from moving around the center.
Wall 3 horizontal ray cells to stop the side- to- side spread of pathogens.
The wounded tree stable and balanced now but covered in ivy.
The tree that lost a bough.
Then through a gate and into the meadow is the tree that was blown over.
The wind was fierce and a woman came to me in a hurry:
‘Don’t go in ! A tree has just fallen!’ She shouted above the howl of the wind. I went the next day and photographed it. I was sad and amazed how shallow its roots had been. Here it is now.
At the centre of the brambles is a circular disc,
the front of a bough that once was the fork of a trunk
up high.
The fallen tree.
Well loved by the birds and mice as a place of rest
the prickles and dense thorny thickness of brambles keep cats, foxes and crows out!
Then out of the meadow lies the chopped down tree.
Framed by the wire the whole length of the chopped down tree is easy to see in its homestead use.
Four trees with only ‘the fallen’ in the meadow.
Our beautiful world. Today it is raining and this scene will soon turn green.
Take care,
Sandy 🙂
Ps
Here is a thought written by Jeremiah when three great powers, Assyria, Egypt, and Babylon were struggling for supremacy approximately 600 B.C.
But blessed is the person who trusts in the LORD… they will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
Jeremiah 17: 7,8 ( The whole of 17 is interesting and may be useful.)