Alright, no poetry today. I wanted to post this and write a few words about this crazy tree I found at the Arboretum. Earlier today, during my routine Sunday morning photo walk I found this massive spruce. Hidden off the path near a service road where there aren’t too many hikers is this giant. Not absolutely positive, but I think it is a Norway Spruce (Picea abies “acrocona”).

What struck me about it at first is that it does not lose its lower branches, like regular spruce would. The oldest, and lowest, branches literally start at the waist level and hug the ground. This particular specimen, I’d gauge it at 80-100 feet in height. Easily.

Here is the second crazy part. Unlike other tall conifers, which have cones near the top, this one is covered in them from the top to the bottom, from the trunk to the tips of branches. The cones are literally everywhere where there are needles. What I shot in this photo was while kneeling down!

The third crazy part is their color and texture. Striking hues of purple, pink, crimson, yellow and blue. While being covered in what looked like a candy dipped into sugar.

What a sight! I can only imagine what a bird’s nirvana this must be once the cones mature and start releasing their seeds. I expect there are hundreds of thousands of cones on this single tree.
This is what I imagine a perfect, nature-decorated, Christmas tree to look like.