Tag: trees
limes
Erythrina caffra
Erythrina caffra, the coast coral tree or African coral tree, is a native of southeastern Africa. It is often cultivated as an ornamental and street tree, and has introduced populations in California and India. We have one growing in our yard. It’s deciduous, and puts forward both leaves and flowers in early spring. The flowers are made up of a main petal of a gorgeous transparent pyrrol orange hue, and four small petals. The main petal curves back to expose the stamens.
Quercus lobata
I spent all day indoors at the Park, in a first aid class. It was so nice to emerge into the late afternoon sunshine, and notice the new leaves on the valley oaks.
Coast live oak
Superfast (maybe 2 minutes) paint-only sketch.
under the oaks
I sat in the thick oak leaf mulch to sketch this burned, twisted stump. Across from me, Jeyla was drawing mushrooms. My view spiralled upwards. Hers focused downwards. Together but apart, we breathed the damp, earthy air.
seeing trees
lone oak
Sketched from a photo, following John Muir Laws’ Happy Little Trees workshop. He shared a lot of good tips on drawing both broadleaf and coniferous trees, near and far.
curious and curiouser
On Sulphur Mountain I saw a curious phenomenon—clusters of baby acorns on one of the coast live oaks. This makes no sense to me, for multiple reasons:
- It’s autumn, not spring. The year’s acorn crop is ending, not beginning.
- Acorns don’t usually grow in thick clusters like this. They grow singly or in pairs.
- There was no evidence of male flowers, whose dried catkins usually linger for quite a while after the female flowers are fertilised.
I know we’ve had a weird weather year, but I only observed this phenomenon in a single tree out of many hundreds I passed. Why would only one tree be affected, if weather was the cause? What’s going on here?
Quercus lobata
I have many beloved trees at Malibu Creek State Park; this young-ish valley oak near the amphitheater is definitely one of them. It’s been a while since I sketched it.
hashiworks 