Seeing What's Not There - Day 24

A Shadow Box For Alder Cones  

A Twig of Alder Nestled 

-  into its own custom display case       

Heat from the daytime sunshine collected by the dark brown twig was enough to melt the surrounding snow and fit the cone into its own cozy chamber. Freezing temperatures at night added the protective cover of ice.   

Seeing What's Not There - Day 15

Shadows from an Alderbush

Alder Bushes in Sunshine

-  create a tangle of shadows on the snow.         

Alders are tough grow-anywhere plants that curve and wiggle their way into whatever patches of sunshine they can grow into. On a white snow background, the branches and cones of a wintertime alder bush make a complex shadow design.    

Birches and their Neighbors - Day 19

Tamarack Cones in Winter

A String of Orange Cones  

- colorful winter decorations  

Tamarack, larch, juniper, hackmatack, whatever you call it, this tree is a botanical wonder.
It is an conifer but it loses its needles in winter. It replenishes its chlorophyll every year in new leaves just like a deciduous tree. It looks like its cousins, the evergreens, but really it isn't one.

Tamarack wood is sturdy and workable for everything from shipbuilding to snowshoes. The inner and outer bark, the needles and the sap provide medicines. The roots are strong for weaving baskets. The tender new shoots and the inner bark are good to eat.

And this tree is attractive year round. In spring and summer, its needles are soft and smooth, in fall, they take on a luminous yellow color, and in winter, the tamarack's branches and cones show the complex structure of the tree.