The water oak in our yard was small when we moved here in 1980. Jilda's parents had moved a double wide trailer here on the property in the mid-1970s. The company moved the dwelling in pieces. They scraped the lot down to the red clay. The trees and shrubs that lived here prior to their move were shoved into a pile and burned.
They planted a few Rose-of-Sharon bushes, some azaleas, and they dug a dogwood up from the hollow and planted it by the drive.
A squirrel must have decided the land was still too barren, so it planted an acorn. The water oak took root. We built our house in the fall of 1983 and moved a few days before Christmas. The tree flourished.
The tree is a lesson in yen and yang. Through the years the tree has shaded our house, saving us a bundle in summertime power bills. It's also a beautiful tree. Humid summers paint a coat of moss on its trunk and roots that resembles a green scarf. A yang is that limbs dump mountains of leaves in autumn. And when the wind blows, acorns ping the roof like a Jamaican kettle drum.
Another yang'ish thing is limbs die and fall. Today when I drove into the driveway after work, I noticed something. When I stepped closer I saw it was a limb that had fallen off the tree. Unlike most limbs that fall from that tree, this one was covered with a fungus called terana caerulea. I think the common name is cobalt crust. I've never seen a fungus this color.
While the fallen limb is a hard yang, I'm leaning toward a yin for this beautiful fungus.
They planted a few Rose-of-Sharon bushes, some azaleas, and they dug a dogwood up from the hollow and planted it by the drive.
A squirrel must have decided the land was still too barren, so it planted an acorn. The water oak took root. We built our house in the fall of 1983 and moved a few days before Christmas. The tree flourished.
The tree is a lesson in yen and yang. Through the years the tree has shaded our house, saving us a bundle in summertime power bills. It's also a beautiful tree. Humid summers paint a coat of moss on its trunk and roots that resembles a green scarf. A yang is that limbs dump mountains of leaves in autumn. And when the wind blows, acorns ping the roof like a Jamaican kettle drum.
Another yang'ish thing is limbs die and fall. Today when I drove into the driveway after work, I noticed something. When I stepped closer I saw it was a limb that had fallen off the tree. Unlike most limbs that fall from that tree, this one was covered with a fungus called terana caerulea. I think the common name is cobalt crust. I've never seen a fungus this color.
While the fallen limb is a hard yang, I'm leaning toward a yin for this beautiful fungus.
That is one spectacular colour for fungus. I have never seen anything like it.
ReplyDeleteAlphie
Wait is that a cobalt blue fungus? This is amazing and I have never seen anything like it. Is it poisonous because of this neat colour? I love trees so I would take the leaves falling and the Gene Krupa acorn drumming over no tree
ReplyDeleteI have never seen anything like it. Definitely a positive. I am most definitely a tree-hugger. Leaves falling and acorns are fine. Limbs falling not so much.
ReplyDeleteWow. The things I learn on the internet.
ReplyDeleteinteresting...
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I see a blue fungus. Very interesting.
ReplyDeletethanks for the photo.
Hugs, Julia
I've two large oaks either side of my home and the ping of acorns is a regular thing. I have little trees growing like gras in my yard that I mow down regularly. Otherwise I'd be living in a forest. I've never seen that blue fungus either. But I always have a few limbs falling in the yard. Thankfully small ones.
ReplyDeleteIn some time, far away among the boys if you were kidding a friend there was a saying, "Don't look now, but there is a fungus among us!" /The words ran thru my mind when I saw the alert.
ReplyDeleteI always get a kick out of your use of words, "The Acorns ping like a Jamaican kettle drum." You actually sent my mind back to Jamaica and a street drummer! Neat. I enjoy your writing.
That shade of blue is stunning, and unusual in the natural world.
ReplyDeleteDear Rick, I'm so glad that you are the type of person who finds something good in every event. That blue is beautiful. Peace.
ReplyDeleteI have seen that fungus on some dead limbs on my property. It is definitely an unusual color and quite striking.
ReplyDeleteI have a willow oak that I dug out of the woods and planted close to our house for quick, temporary shade (while a slower growing tree could grow a little farther from the house). Now that the tree is larger, it is time for it to come down, but I hate to think about losing the shade.
What a gorgeous color for a fungus!!
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