It's Arbor Day!

Since my posting an entry re the eyes of Northern mockingbirds this morning, it has been brought to my attention that today is Arbor Day. It always falls on the last Friday of April, which is today.

According to Holiday Insights (HI), "National Arbor Day is the Tree Planter's holiday, and has been celebrated since 1872. It began in Nebraska, a largely treeless plain back in the 1800's. It is a day to plant and dedicate a tree to help nature and the environment. Millions of trees are planted on this day. (And) The National Arbor Day Foundation provides millions of trees for planting. It is estimated that 18 million tress are planted each year on Arbor Day."

The photograph atop this entry was taken by Juan V fifteen days ago (April 13th) when he  was here to work in my garden, which as you may know is on a rooftop in NYC. I have affixed numbers to his image to indicate the trees which are growing in my garden, where so much has change since he took this picture!

Number one indicates where I have my 'Tamukeyama' (AKA Japanese Maple). A detail of foliage from that tree can be seen in the next image (taken in bygone years).

This tree is featured in the digital versions,

as well as the softcover version,

of Cam's book Words In Our Beak Volume One.

In any event, to the immediate left (number two) of is my Japanese Larch (AKA Larix Kaempferi), and a small detail of this tree's unique needles can be seen in the next picture.

This particular photo was taken a few years ago. The number three is indicating my crabapple tree, which can be seen in the following photo.

The blossoms from this tree were discussed in yesterday's post here on Blogger. Number four is referencing my table-top fig tree which Juan V brought to me the last time he was here. As of this entry, I have no photos isolating this little tree, but stay tuned because I surely will have some in the near future.

Meanwhile, number five indicates the placement of my Fagus sylvatica (AKA Beech Tree), and a picture of how it looks during Autumn time is directly below.

The tree indicated by the number six is off-camera. It is my Canadian Palm Tree, seen below, in a photo you might recognize from prior entries here on Blogger.

Number seven identifies my Acer palmatum ('Shisitatsu' Sawa), and an image showing foliage from this tree is directly below.

All of the trees discussed here are ones currently growing in my garden. However, I'd like to use this entry as a way of paying homage to the trees that did not survive various weather conditions. One of them is a Miniature Japanese Larch (Larix Kaempferi); and can be seen when it was thriving (in the next picture).

The other non-survivor was my Acer shirasawanum (Autumn Moon), details of this tree's awesome foliage (in better times) can be seen below.

Another tree that no longer lives in my garden is a variety known as Physocarpus opulifolius (AKA Coppertina), which produced beautiful flowers as evidenced below.

My Physocarpus opulifolius did not die, the reason I no longer have him is he got too big for my space and I donated him to a church garden.

However, the Physocarpus opulifolius is featured in a movie within my Vimeo channel, which you can access by clicking here. Moreover, images and fun facts about this tree are included in all the versions of Words In Our Beak Volume One.

And that's about it for my tribute to Arbor Day, except to leave you with the following poems by Joyce Kilmer,

I think that I shall never see,
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray:
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair:
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

and Odgen Nash.

I think that I shall never see

A billboard lovely as a tree.

Indeed unless the billboards fall,
I'll never see a tree at all.

FALL 2018 ADDENDUM: 

I no longer actively produce event program covers, invitations and the types of greeting cards described here or on my website but arrangements might be able to be made under certain circumstances. My focus is on the Words In Our Beak book series, pictured below...

WORDS IN OUR BEAK BOOK SERIES

...whose stories are told from the point of view of Cam, a female cardinal, whose photo is on the cover of each book. Words In Our Beak’s goal is to open readers to a simple understanding of the winged world and their environment. Set in my rooftop urban garden in New York City. Words In Our Beak is directed to children and adults who are curious about birds, and want to learn about them from a unique perspective. The books include hundreds of images of flora and fauna, links to movies, as well as to informative narratives that have been created by the author.

Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books.

Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.