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Early summer gold
Walking around Taynish woods in the early summer sunshine, I was reminded of these words by the American poet Robert Frost. The newly-emerged leaves of the oak trees were making the hillside glow with a rich gold. It won’t last long – every day will see them turn a slightly deeper green, as summer gathers pace – but while it lasts, it is pure magic. “Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.” Robert Frost
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A new treasure: ‘Trees and How They Grow’ by G Clarke Nuttall
At a show last weekend I picked up this gorgeous old book from a second-hand book stall. Written by Gertrude Clarke Nuttall, it’s called ‘Trees And How They Grow’ and is dated 1913. Inside are 15 colour plates called ‘autochromes’ and 134 black-and-white photographs. A total of 24 species of trees are described in detail – among them alder, hornbeam, larch, poplar, horse chestnut, willow, wayfaring-tree – and the natural history is mixed with wonderful legends and folklore. This book is in fact a natural history specimen in its own right, because someone has collected leaves from the trees and pressed them carefully in the relevant chapters. These are now alarmingly fragile, especially the sprig of lime which still has…
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A wand of hazel
For their valuable source of food and their versatile building material, hazel trees have been prized since the dawn of time. But hazel nuts are believed to contain wisdom, and a little bit of magic as well...
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