When we moved into this house outside Saint-Aignan in 2003, there were two Christmas trees growing in the back yard. Two different landscapers told us that one of them needed to be removed. It was in danger of falling. So we had it taken down.
This composite image shows the same tree twice, once in 2003 and once in 2020. Look how it has grown.
In the photo above on the right it looks very healthy, but in reality it looks slightly scruffy.
In the photo above on the right it looks very healthy, but in reality it looks slightly scruffy.
I measured the height of this tree yesterday using the stick-and-camera method. It's about 50 feet (just over 15 meters) tall. As you can see, we've had more and more lower branches cut off to let more sunlight into the yard and to make it easier to mow the grass under the tree.
Above is a view of the tree I measured as seen from a window up in the loft, with the vineyard beyond. You can also admire the state of the laurel hedge that encloses our yard on three sides. It was trimmed a couple of months ago, at the end of the 2019 growing season, by the same landscaping crew that took down the moribund blue spruce tree a week ago. On the left you can also see our neighbor C.'s house, which is on the market right now.
Photos can be deceiving, because of phenomena of perspective.Viewing the photo on the left, you might get the idea that the two remaining conifers in our yard are approximately equal in height. In fact, the Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara) on the left in the photo is 50% (about seven meters) taller than the one I've been calling the "Christmas tree." I think that one might be a Noordman fir (Abies nordmanniana), but I'm not an expert.
It is interesting to note that the branches on the right side of the cedar are shorter than the ones on the left side. I suppose it is because the spruce being too close hampered their growth.
ReplyDeleteYou have an eagle's eye, chm! I wonder is the stunted branches will eventually grow longer? Methinks probably not.
DeleteAs everybody knows, English is my second language and something happened this morning that I think worthy mentioning. It is amazing what you learn without even noticing it. In my comment above I used for the first time ever, as I can recall, the word hampering. It came so naturally that I had to check if it meant what I meant! It came out of the blue, from somewhere deep inside my human computer memory!
Deletechm I wish I had that problem with French! Yes, hampering is the perfect word.
DeleteCHM, you are unhampered by age.
DeleteThank you Ken and Evelyn.
DeleteI dhould have said I had known the word hamper as a basket for dirty clothes, but, as I said, the use as a verb in that sense came out of nowhere!
DeleteThe forsythia looks like it's going to burst into bloom soon.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it wiil burst into bloom very soon.
DeleteI like the cedar and fir tree in your landscape...it's nice to have something green all year when the leaves drop on everything else! Your laurel hedge is perfection, making the neighbor's hedge look scruffy. lol.
ReplyDeleteWell done, chm. And yes, hampering indeed. I like your realization that we learn so much without even noticing. Your human computer memory is firing on all cylinders (do computers have cylinders? asking for a friend).
ReplyDeleteComputers might have had cylinders in their infancy, but don't quote me on this!
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