Black Walnut (Juglan Nigra)

Some pictures of our black walnut tree this spring. We spent some time clearing a small area around the tree this spring. One day soon (I hope) we will clear the remaining area around the tree.

Notice the grayish/blackish bark which is deeply furrowed.

It's hard to see from this distance, but the leaves are arranged alternately on the twig and are compound with more than 11 leaflets and range from one to two feet long.

Be careful when planting around a black walnut tree. The tree secretes juglone into the soil which is a respiratory inhibitor in many plants. As always, practice good companion planting and you should be fine.

Amaryllis Pictures

Cat

Kneedy wishing he could teleport through the glass window; luckily cats only have ninja powers and have not yet learned to teleport.

Different Stages of Thistle Flowering

Ice Storm

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

Eastern Red Cedar

One of several eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) trees that we felled when building our house. We saved all the trees to be used in the house. We felled this tree almost a year ago, it has been laying  a brush pile since; yet no signs of insect or water damage - gotta love cedar!

This evergreen tree typically grows from 16 to 66 feet tall with a trunk typically 12 - 39 inches in diameter. It's commonly used for fence posts (for it's rot resistant properties), cedar closets, and cedar chests (for it's insect and moth repellent properties). 

Notice the white sapwood and reddish/purplish heartwood.