Thursday Tree Love: A Decaying Trunk and a Pitcher Plant

A few days after the Hurricane

I don’t remember what kind of tree this was or when it died. It lived for many years along the fence in my backyard. Decaying limbs hung on until a hurricane, maybe Florence in 2018, sheared the top off leaving a finger pointing skyward which disintegrated over time. In preparation for working on the fence, I asked David to cut the dead trunk in the shape of a castle or tower. Some of the cuttings reminded me more of castles like the last one in the gallery. The remaining stump still provides a home for bugs, grubs, mushrooms, and who knows what else… maybe fairies!

Years later learning on the fence

Last summer

Tiny mushrooms 2021

Thursday Tree Love is hosted by Parul Thakur on the second and fourth Thursday of each month. Today, Parul shared a young banyan tree in a pot and asked us to share a plant from our home, neighbourhood or surroundings. One interesting plant that came to mind is the pitcher plant which grows wild in the wetlands of North Carolina and other places around the world. It is a carnivorous plant and catches insects.

For more tree love, visit Paurl’s blog: Happiness and Food.

Thursday Tree Love: Live Oak with Resurrection Fern and Spanish Moss Over Water

“Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.” – Rachel Carson

My friend enticed me to go to Airlie Gardens a couple of weeks ago to take pictures. I’m so glad we went. It was a perfect spring morning. This cluster of live oaks leaning over the water were among my favorites.

Skirted by azaleas, the trunks provided a home for resurrection fern. Branches leaning over water were draped in Spanish Moss.

View from the other side

Thursday Tree Love is hosted on the second and fourth Thursday of each month by Paurl Thakur. For more tree love, visit Parul at: https://www.happinessandfood.com/thursdaytreelove-127/

Thursday Tree Love: Early Blooming Bradford Pear Trees

This tree likes the light pole.

“Pyrus calleryana, or the Callery pear, is a species … native to China and Vietnam….most commonly known for its cultivar ‘Bradford’, widely planted throughout the United States and increasingly regarded as an invasive species.” (From Wikipedia)

It annoys me when people call a tree or animal species “invasive.” The tree or animal is just doing what it needs to do to survive. Bradford Pear trees are certainly abundant around here. Being early bloomers, they stand out and seem to be wherever I look. That’s okay with me. They make me smile. Birds and bees like them, too.

The tree above is in the parking lot at the grocery store. I’m so thankful for the shade trees provide in summer. Crows seemed to like this tree. Can you find the crow in the next photo?

The crow is a silhouette just above and left of center

Here are a few more Bradford Pear Trees I’ve seen in the past few days:

Along the road to the grocery store

It was a nice day for me and the trees.

There’s a house hiding back there

This tree and century plant live near the parking lot of the mission store where David works

Thursday Tree Love is hosted by Parul Thankur on the second and fourth Thursday of each month. For more Tree Love, visit Parul at the link below:

#ThursdayTreeLove – 125

Thursday Tree Love: Holly Tree with Berries

“Sometimes all it takes is a subtle shift in perspective, an opening of the mind, an intentional pause and reset, or a new route to start to see new options and new possibilities.” Kristin Armstrong

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I had not really seen this holly tree until I was photographing Mother Pine for my previous Tree Love post. They are neighbors living near the senior center parking lot. I’ll be sure to appreciate the holly’s shade this summer.

Holly branches in front of Mother Pine

American Holly Tree aka ilex

Shady parts

Holly Berries

Thursday Tree Love is hosted on the second and fourth Thursday by Parul Thakur. For more tree love, visit Parul’s post HERE.

Thursday Tree Love: Mother Pine and her Children

At the Base of Mother Pine

Looking up

Mother Pine dressed in vines

you have sheltered the young

surrounding your base,

nourishing them, connecting them

to the magic mycelium maze

Intertwining your roots.

We do not know who will survive

But we will cherish each moment of life.

These young pine trees and their mother grow in a park near the senior center. I don’t know what will happen to the young trees, but it made me smile to see them growing in a semicircle around the base of the mother tree on a gray February afternoon.

Thursday Tree Love is hosted by Parul Thakur on the second and fourth Thursday of each month. For more Tree Love, visit Parul’s blog, here: https://www.happinessandfood.com/thursdaytreelove-123/

Thursday Tree Love: Tree-lined Grace

Live Oaks Along Grace Street

Live oak trees lean over the street named Grace near a big brick church called Grace United. I often take this road on my way home from errands in the historic downtown section of my city. In the summertime, the shade is a welcome relief. In winter, the leaves are mostly green, though a little thinner, continuing to give oxygen to humans and other animals.

Heading East toward Home

Heading West to Downtown

The large branches, draped in Spanish moss, provide a feeling of shelter to drivers, pedestrians, birds, bugs, and squirrels.

Spanish Moss

Spanish Moss

Oak with a palm friend

Little door with ferns on the porch

Spanish Moss

Canopy with sun

Do you see what looks like a little door at the bottom of the tree trunk?

Thursday Tree Love is hosted by Parul Thakur on the second and fourth Thursday of each month. For more Tree Love, visit Parul’s post HERE.

Today’s prompt for Just Jot it January is, “understanding.” Thanks to Wendy for the wonderful prompt and to Linda Hill for hosting. Click HERE for #jusjojan details. When I took these tree photos yesterday, I was standing under the trees, so I guess you could say, I was understanding, or trying to. Trees communicate in different ways, mostly underground with each other. But if you put your hands on a tree and are very quiet, you might feel them humming. I hope and pray we humans can all come to understand the life-giving importance of living trees.

Thursday Tree Love: Spring Red Buds in a Parking Lot

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Reflection in the Car Bumper

I took these photos in March when the redbuds were among the first to bloom. This one added color to the gray parking lot.

If you look up, you can forget for a moment you’re even in a parking lot.

We still need to leave more trees in parking lots.

Thursday Tree Love is hosted by Parul Thakur on the second and fourth Thursday of each month.

For more Tree Love, visit: Parul’s post.

ThursdayTree Love: Parking Lot Tree with a V

As you can tell, I took this photo through my car windshield after noticing the pleasing shape of this parking lot tree. All parking lots should have islands of trees, not just for the shade, but also for the oxygen and air cleansing they naturally provide. When I got out to take a closer look, I noticed this one had an interesting V shaped crevice in the trunk.

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  The tree appears healthy in spite of the crevice.

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  A little plant has found a home here.

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  I don’t know what kind of tree it is, but…

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  It seems to be budding.

Thursday Tree Love is hosted by Paurl Thakur on the second and fourth Thursday of each month. For more tree love, visit Parul at # ThursdayTreeLove 112

Thursday Tree Love: My Favorite Live Oak

“When we are OPEN, we have freedom, courage and creativity – not just to explore uncharted territories where intuition may lead, but also to move beyond limits.”

― Zamm Zamudio, Intuition: Discover the Inner Workings of our World –

This is my favorite live oak so far in southeastern North Carolina. It lives in a city park near a lake encircled by a five mile trail. Southern Live Oaks (Quercus Virginiana) are famous for their large, low, spreading branches. Some branches may even rest on the ground like South Carolina’s Angel Oak which I hope to visit one day.

I hope this gives you an idea of the tree’s size.

Thursday Tree Love is hosted by Parul Thankur on the second and fourth Thursday of each month. For more tree love, visit:

#ThursdayTreeLove – 111 – happiness and food

Thursday Tree Love: Bald Cypress, Blue Skies, and Spanish Moss

These cypress trees live in and around the lake at a city park David and I visited in December. The walk around the lake is five miles which I’ve done in years past and might do again one day. Most of the trees are hung with Spanish moss, which is not technically a moss, but is a bromeliad, a flowering plant. I’ve never noticed the flowers, which must be small, so I’m going to look more closely this spring. In French Polynesia, Spanish moss is called, “grandpa’s beard.”

Many years ago, I draped Spanish moss over black lace on a pith helmet for a Halloween costume. First I had to shake the moss out and wash it having discovered tiny insects living in it. I got an honorable mention in the costume contest and was dubbed “The Swamp Witch.” Now, I leave the Spanish moss and the tiny insects in the trees where they belong.

Bald cypress and Spanish moss are common in swamps of the southern US

You can click on the following photos individually for a better look and descriptions.

Wishing you blue skies and plenty of tree love!

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Thursday Tree Love is hosted by Parul Thakur on the second and fourth Thursday of each month.

For more Tree Love, visit:

#ThursdayTreeLove – 102 – happiness and food