Ancient trees

[zigs]

Was talking to Chanell about Ancient Trees earlier, thought i'd get a thread going on it as its winter here now.

The UK has the largest percentage of Ancient Trees in Europe. Trees that we take for granted are a rareity on the Continent.

How to estimate the age of your trees, sorry, I hate PDF files, but this is a short one.

http://wbrc.org.uk/atp/Estimating Age of Oaks - Woodland Trust.pdf

Getting involved in recording Ancient Trees,

http://www.ancient-tree-hunt.org.uk/

 

[Lanie]

What a lovely idea for a discussion. I would love to see some photos of these ancient trees, so when I'm done here I'm going to go Google it. When I look at them I can just imagine some faeries, sprites and gnomes peeking out at me because they look like they are straight out of a fairy tale.

 

[zigs]

Heres a few of the Ancient Yew trees we visited back in the spring.

They're in Kingley Vale in Sussex, http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/designations/nnr/1006085.aspx

Lovely place to visit.

 

[taskeinc]

Thanks for the PDF Zigs .. I saved it and will add it as a link to my webpage about plants (workhomeunion.com/plants.htm) and my blog about plants (aliveplants.blogspot.com)..

The PDF is easy to read and fascinating when you consider, the girth of a tree that measures 30ft, is about 900 years old! Wow!

I live in Georgia, about 26 miles from downtown Atlanta (Stone Mountain), and there are trees everywhere. Many of the trees have been around for quite some time. In my backyard (in my previous home), I used to sit in a lounge chair, listening to smooth jazz, relax, meditate, and bird watch. I had about 3 bird houses, a couple bird feeders, 1 large flower garden in the center of the backyard - with flowers that attracted butterflies and humming birds - surrounded by lights, and a couple other flower gardens in two corners of my fenced-in backyard. I would look at the majesty of the trees and couldn't help but think that if these trees could speak, they would have a very interesting story to tell..

David Margolick's poem would come mind (if you're offended by this poem, I apologize, but it's one of my favorites, and when you look at the history of the South, there is definitely some truth to Margolick's composition):

Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,
And the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

~ David Margolick

By the way, I've not been able to duplicate my previous backyard in my current home. Hopefully this spring or by spring of 2014, I'll get there ..

 

[taskeinc]

On a lighter note, I found what many believe to be the oldest tree in the world, called "General Sherman." General Sherman is a giant sequoia, 274.9 feet tall, girth is 79 feet, first branch starts at 130 feet. Research from 2002 indicates that the tree is about 2000 years old.

General Sherman is not the tallest tree, that honor belongs to Hyperion (a coast redwood named after a Greek "God of Beauty"), which stands 379.7 feet tall.

 

[claudine]

This is a wonderful thread . I love tress and ancient trees are the most fascinating. This is one of the oldest trees in Poland:

 

[Rocky]

These trees are all so amazing! One of my favorite childhood memories is driving through the redwoods. It really puts 'life' on earth into perspective when you see these giants and realize how long they have been here. Nature in it's finest!

 

[claudine]

Rocky, I know what you mean, I feel this way too. Ancient trees are amazing. I always think about people in the past who saw them too, centuries ago. I love ancient tress.
These are so beautiful:

 

[Jed]

There's a tree that grows here known as the Huon pine. Individual trees can grow as old as 3,000 years old. They all start from one tree and then clone themselves. This stand in the article originates from one 10,500 years ago. The oldest individual tree in this stand could be as old as 2,000 years.
Timber is still harvested unfortunately. It's a fantastic craft wood and is also used to build boats. A fantastic wood indeed with an amazing fragrance.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/the-oldest-tree/story-e6frg8h6-1226130673929

 

[claudine]

They can grow as old as 3,000 years old? It's amazing! It would be great if tees could talk, I bet they'd have many interesting stories to tell . Who knows how many people in the past were trying to climb them and how many had a picnic in their shade.
I wish it wasn't harvested

 

[Jed]

This photo from Facebook today shows a tree from an old growth forest under threat. It could be at least 80 metres or taller. It needs to be 85 metres not to be axed. Not ancient but old.

 

[DrCase]

Great Thread

 

[taskeinc]

Older trees across the globe have so much history, I believe they all have a story to tell. I wonder if these trees have a spirit, like plants you may have had in your home for 20+ years, does it have a spirit? It's a rhetorical question, not to get anyone bent out of shape. There are so many amazing wonders to this glorious universe, I have so many questions, so many unanswered questions. That's one reason why my favorite past-times are plants and horticulture, and studying the universe. I am fascinated by both topics.

 

[zigs]

A lot of English churchyards have got big old Yew trees in them.

Thats taken from the top of a church in Dorset that I was working on.

It used to be thought that they were planted in medieval times to provide wood for Bows & Arrows, and to keep the poisonous foliage away from grazing animals.

But research a few years back showed that most of them pre date the churches, some are over 2,000 years old.

The Yew groves were sacred before christianity, the christians took over the original sacred sites, just as they hijacked the winter solstice & easter.

 

[taskeinc]

You learn something every day, I was not aware of the "Yew" tree. Found this nice image, and a little info on the history of "Yews in America" (get it?) OK, sorry, not funny, plus the article refers to Yew trees in the UK.
Found this really nice image below.. and I tend to agree with your last sentence Zigs, but since this is not a religious forum I'll keep my Yews, I mean, my views, to myself.

 

[zigs]

Cor, thats seen some action.

The tendency for the heart wood to rot away is what made dendrocronology on them so difficult for so long.

I'm not religious, I just work on Churches

 

[happyflowerlady]

I am loving all the pictures of these huge trees, and wish I had a picture to post of the giant cedar tree that was on my parents ranch in north Idaho. It was nowhere near as big as these are, but for what it was, it was huge. I am not sure how big around it was, but underneath the lower branches, it was like a room inside there, and the room was probably 15' in diameter . The property has since been sold, and the tree removed, but I loved taking my kids in that "secret room" when they were young, and we were out there in the woods.

 

[sissy]

gosh amazing trees but here in VA sad to say all they do is cut the forest down to make lumber and leave the mess behind .They cut some of the trees on my land by so called accident and lucky i came home when i did or they would have cut more of them down .They were supposed to forest the neighbor behind me and all my trees were clearly marked not to touch them and they still did .They went right through the middle

 

[zigs]

Blimey, thats terrible. What are they going to do about it?

 

[sissy]

not much here as they don't care .I am not from VA so they say it was just trees ,well they were my trees .They did make him come back and clean it up and made him pay me for the trees and plant some small trees .My property was stripped of trees before i bought it and only have the woods behind me .I did plant over 30 trees all around my property though .Some are fruit trees since I am a vegetarian