The first time I learned that a tree I had seen in Bend Oregon was a quaking aspen is when I started looking for them everywhere. When we moved to the mountains then and even now I still have to go where the aspens grow especially in fall. I'm so drawn to them. But, I wasn't educated on the difference between an aspen and a birch and got them mixed up sometimes.
But I've since learned the aspen has heart shapes leaves with white trunk and black markings and the birch has a different shaped leaf and white trunk and they both have beautiful yellow leaves in fall. But there is nothing like a Quaking Aspen even in the slightest of breezes.
Yesterday up at Big Bear Lake we found what I was looking for. Some aspens have turned colors at least on one side of the lake and the other side, for some reason they have yet to turn.
Yesterday I saw that there were many smaller aspens growing what appeared to be along a root line so I figured ...yes of course, that's how aspen groves are created. So I googled for more info and here's just a bit of quite a lot of what I've read about them. I'll be reading up even more on these interesting trees and also on the birch tree which I also love and found that their bark is great for making canoes.
First, it has the widest natural range of any tree in North America, spanning 47 degrees of latitude (equal to half the distance from the equator to the North Pole), 110 degrees of longitude (nine time zones), and elevations from sea level to timberline. It is also the largest living organism, growing in clones that reproduce primarily by sending up sprouts from their roots. And as far as the oldest…a clone in Minnesota has been estimated to be 8,000 years old!
Getting up close and personal it's great to see just how many colors are in a fall aspen tree leaf. I also made a trip recently to Heaps Peak Botanical Garden here in the mountains and their aspens are also showing their fall colors - this is at an altitude of about 6500 feet to 6700 feet. These leaves are so gorgeous!
But I've since learned the aspen has heart shapes leaves with white trunk and black markings and the birch has a different shaped leaf and white trunk and they both have beautiful yellow leaves in fall. But there is nothing like a Quaking Aspen even in the slightest of breezes.
Yesterday up at Big Bear Lake we found what I was looking for. Some aspens have turned colors at least on one side of the lake and the other side, for some reason they have yet to turn.
Yesterday I saw that there were many smaller aspens growing what appeared to be along a root line so I figured ...yes of course, that's how aspen groves are created. So I googled for more info and here's just a bit of quite a lot of what I've read about them. I'll be reading up even more on these interesting trees and also on the birch tree which I also love and found that their bark is great for making canoes.
First, it has the widest natural range of any tree in North America, spanning 47 degrees of latitude (equal to half the distance from the equator to the North Pole), 110 degrees of longitude (nine time zones), and elevations from sea level to timberline. It is also the largest living organism, growing in clones that reproduce primarily by sending up sprouts from their roots. And as far as the oldest…a clone in Minnesota has been estimated to be 8,000 years old!
Getting up close and personal it's great to see just how many colors are in a fall aspen tree leaf. I also made a trip recently to Heaps Peak Botanical Garden here in the mountains and their aspens are also showing their fall colors - this is at an altitude of about 6500 feet to 6700 feet. These leaves are so gorgeous!
