Tree #1 Western Red Cedar

 I think I may do a wee tree series this week ….after some commenting on Garry Oaks yesterdsy..This tree fell across our paths (old road) ….just broke at ground level…it will need to be bucked up…fortunately it’s not deep in the forest so we can get the wood easily.   I find it a challenge to photograph trees but will try to make them interesting.

This is a red cedar, (Thuja plicata), an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae native to Western North America.   It’s not a true cedar of the genus Cedars (cyoress trees).  It was so integral to the lives of the Native peoples here in the Northwest from Alaska south to Northern California that it is truly called the Tree of Life.   It was used for everything from soft diapers to canoes from a single tree, baskets, ropes, nets, houses, totems, clothing, boxes, fishing gear, tools and more.   Plicata means braided and refers to the pattern of its small leaves.   It grows straight, up to 200 feet and more than 10ft in diameter.   The branches slant down and then turn up. (as you can see in both the upright and fallen tree)  the cones are small and there are both seed and pollen cones on one tree.    It all has a very lovely smell.

The tree behind H shows the flagging that goes on as the tree sheds it’s older leaves in the fall to conserve energy and nutrients.   The border is how the ground looks under these trees this time of year.   I blipped them in the birdbath a few days ago…it seems to me there is an extra  LOT of flagging this year but supposedly it does increase after a hot dry summer when it gets cold.    It’s not exactly cold yet…

It burns easily so it’s good to start fires with…. which is what I’m about to do in the sauna…. with some older cedar kindling.    The sauna walls are cedar and smell wonderful. It will take awhile to deal with this tree, however.   But the chain saw was busy for today.  No hurry.