Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Spring Fireglow


Early Spring.. emerging embers.

"Tree, gather up my thoughts
like the clouds in your branches.
Draw up my soul
like the waters in your root.

In the arteries of your trunk
bring me together.
Through your leaves
breathe out the sky."
~ J. Daniel Beaudry, Breath
"Fireglow", if ever an appropriate name for a tree... this is. It is probably ten years old with three trunks and survived the move and planting last summer's end. At the nursery and when first planted, the leaves were only tinged with red, mostly green. I babied it, this tree that is my brother's pride and joy... watering carefully... not too little and not too much. How many phone calls to the master gardener at the nursery to see if all things being done were all right.... what about this tiny cut in one of the trunks... does it need anything....when to fertilize... when to cut back on watering... do I prune back those scraggly limbs that lost their leaves in transit? Then fall arrived and with it the flaming red of the leaves... but it was dry and there had been so much heat and stress and still it was hot and the leaves seemed small and curled on edge... will it survive? This tree held on to its leaves well into November, far later than all the other standard maples in the yard. It took in the snow and the winds of winter and I thought it would be late leafing....it was, or at least I thought it was. The standard maple put out its buds and little flowers a full month before any buds were seen on the "Fireglow". But then the standard maple had to form its seeds and these hung around forever... in the meantime, Miss "Fireglow" quietly budded with tiny small red flowers and equally small red seed flyers and then tiny perfectly folded and shaped red leaves began to emerge in quick succession... bypassing the standard maple and.....


April sun....flourishing fiery glow! Posted by Picasa

....bursting forth in the most deep, garnet red collection of leaves I have ever seen. The leaves larger this year, not shriveled or green... and when the sun shines through the canopy it takes your breath away.... "Fireglow"

(end of post)
Ruby Tuesday

15 comments:

Ginny Hartzler said...

It is just stunning! Is Breath a book of poetry, I really love that poem. I wish I could see this tree in person, I am out this weekend taking pictures of them, yours would probably put the others to shame.

Kenju said...

Absolutely stunning!!

Magical Mystical Teacher said...

I love red leaves on trees!


THE SEEKER OF RUBY AND RED

The seeker of ruby and red
Will not let green go to her head;
Instead she will seek
Her senses to pique
With cherry and crimson instead.


© 2011 by Magical Mystical Teacher

Fountain and Red Building

chubskulit said...

lovely rubies!

My Ruby Post, hope you can find time to drop by. Thank you!

wena said...

oh beautiful!

xoxo,
wena
RT@ Senakulo

Sandra Hangey said...

YOwSA is all i can think of to say, this tree is absolutely Stunning!!!! i am speechless with the beauty of it

Sandra Hangey said...

hi, would you look at my newest post from today let me know if you know what the butterfly or moth is? it looks like a yellow leaf,

Beverly Whitcomb said...

Your photos are so gorgeous. David has this tree in his yard, and I love to see it in its different stages. No, I'm not in VA now, but I will be by Monday. Our Sweet Adelines chorus has competition in Daytona Beach Friday and Saturday. I'm trying to find a way to go that won't have me with all the traffic headed over to see the shuttle launch. I'm going to go up and back down...it will be packed on the interstate and some of the back roads. At least we'll have a good view of it from Daytona.

Have a good time with your dear brother. Maybe I'll catch you another time. I will be there often, you know.

Sandra said...

thanks, it is in the sulfur family, i found one by googling. Pieridae is what i found.

Ramblingwoods said...

How beautiful...I love how you find so much natural beauty and of things we might take for granted...

Info said...

I had one of these Maples but it died this winter :( I will get another one though, especially as I am redoing my garden right now! Lovely photos, especially the first one : )

BK - I have a new moniker and blog now :)

Ksgirl61 said...

Lovely! I think it's time to take my camera out today. It's been far too long.
Have a wonderful day and hopefully I'll get caught up with all of your writing!

Anonymous said...

If you are going for most excellent contents like
I do, only pay a visit this web site every day because
it presents feature contents, thanks

Feel free to surf to my weblog :: online graduate certificate

Anonymous said...

Hi! Someone in my Myspace group shared this
site with us so I came to look it over. I'm definitely enjoying the information. I'm bookmarking and
will be tweeting this to my followers! Excellent blog and wonderful design.


Have a look at my web-site click here

Anonymous said...

Hello, I enjoy reading through your post. I wanted to write a little comment to support you.


My web-site; click here