Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: madrone

After a wildfire raged over one of our meadows, through our shop and up our hillside, I finally had the courage to take a closer look. With camera in hand I wandered up the ravaged hillside and took pictures of what I saw in the aftermath. Here is a heat-scorched madrone leaf laying on the burned soil.

It was a curious thing to look at the trees and to find that the fire didn't burn everything in its path. Instead, the damage came from the incredible heat from the fire, which singed the leaves and left them totally dry, and yet with a beauty of their own.

I have a feeling that every nature photographer is crazy about spider webs. I am always looking for them!! So, you can imagine my excitement when I discovered these sugar-coated beauties to focus on! The bad thing is that these are NOT spider webs. They are webs created by a webworm, which are normally not a big deal but they were very distructive this past year. Something about the long wet spring we had in the northwestern United States caused optimal conditions for these pests and their population exploded. Webworms cover leaves and sometimes entire trees with their webs. Adult moths lay eggs on the underside of leaves in the spring and summer, which hatch into caterpillars and spin webs around the leaf, which they eat. This is normally ok if only part of a tree is covered. Unfortunately, countless trees were completely covered with webs from these worms and most or all of the leaves were eaten, killing the trees. We do not know if any of the badly covered trees on our property will recover, but we are crossing our fingers. If you would like to learn more about webworm moths and their habits, here is a Wiki page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_webworm If you would like to see pictures of trees covered with webworms, here is a very good page: www.bugoftheweek.com/bow-reader.jsp?document_name=/wt/bug...

In early January I went on an early morning frosty picture walk around our property, and I was delighted to find this Oak leaf stuck in a frosted spider web! Upon closer investigation, however, I realized this was not a spider web. It was a web made by a "fall webworm." These nasty little creatures hatch from eggs placed on the undersides of leaves by adult webworm moths during the summer. In the fall, they hatch and eat the leaf they hatched on. The problem this last year is that this area of the country was overrun by a record number webworms and they have devastated thousands of trees. Affected trees usually survive webworm infestations, but not this time. This Madrone tree (only a branch is shown--the leaf you see is from an Oak tree), and about a dozen more on our property, has died. :( :( If you would like to learn more about webworm moths and their habits, here is a Wiki page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_webworm If you would like to see pictures of trees covered with webworms, here is a very good page: www.bugoftheweek.com/bow-reader.jsp?document_name=/wt/bug...

Today was very blustery and I wasn't sure if I'd be successful getting pictures in such wind, but out I went for an adventure! I ended up wandering along the upper edge of our larger meadow and following a deer trail up onto our hillside. There I found myself staring at a magnificent old Madrone tree which stood some 60+ feet tall. I went up to it and put my hand on its cool, smooth trunk, and stared up into its branches, feeling its age and wisdom of so many years. This tree stood tall and proud, and yet, I could see that it was a survivor from a wildfire that ravaged this area some years ago. I could see a singed branch and charcoal areas around the base of the trunk. Amazing that it not only survived, it was massive and doing fine! I wanted to take a picture for my 365 project, but as you may have discovered, it's not easy to take a picture of a tree in a forest. So I decided to take lots of pictures to show the lovely details that I found in this old warrior. You will see that most of the images highlight the wonderful curling bark of this tree which leaves the trunk and branches smooth and glowing. They are my favorite type of tree on our property because they're so interesting and have such lovely colors and textures! It was such a treat to discover this wonderful tree and share its details with all of you. William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and libertarian socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and English Arts and Crafts Movement. He founded a design firm in partnership with the artist Edward Burne-Jones, and the poet and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti which profoundly influenced the decoration of churches and houses into the early 20th century. As an author, illustrator and medievalist, he helped to establish the modern fantasy genre, and was a direct influence on postwar authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien. He was also a major contributor to reviving traditional textile arts and methods of production, and one of the founders of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, now a statutory element in the preservation of historic buildings in the UK. Wikipedia: William Morris Explored on Flickr on February 25, 2013. Highest position: #363.

When Steve and I went to the Palmerton Arboretum a week ago, I got to spend quite a while taking pictures. These flowers are from the Madrone tree and I absolutely love how sunshine makes them glow! Especially fun is the challenge of getting an image that shows the inside of these lovely little bell-shaped flowers! And finally, it was a wonderful bonus to find an ant on my favorite aperture choice! :)