ThursdayTreeLove – Page 4

14/04/202215/04/2022

Lagerstroemia speciosa

I am participating in the April AtoZ Blogging challenge and my theme is Plants featured on Indian Stamps. This is my eight attempt at the AtoZ.

My theme is inspired by an online talk by Daniel L Nikrent of Cornell University, USA held by Maharashtra Vriksha Samvardhini about Parasitic Flowering Plants featured on Stamps.

I am not a stamp collector nor a fan of stamps. Hence almost all my posts are purely based on research on the internet. I have tried to cross check the info before posting here. Please do share correct info and links to the same in case of discrepancy.

India Post has a very strong network reaching deep deep into the interiors of the country and I depended on it for news from home when we were posted in far away places. In this age of smartphones, Internet, how many of us really write letters – snail mail as they are now called? Despite this , I find that new stamps are being issued and we have stamps on diverse topics including Armed Forces, Films, Personalities, Wildlife, Handlooms, Handicrafts, Food and so on.. It is amazing!

Lagerstromia speciosa or Tamhan (aka Jarul) of the Lythraceae family is the state flower of Maharashtra. This native tree is now seen often in gardens and roadsides. The flowers look spectacular with their frilly petals and are a pleasure to watch in the blazing summer. It is the state flower of my state Maharashtra. Its leaves turn a beautiful red before they fall.

Here is the Tamhan from my image collection.

This is the stamp issued in 1993 is of denomination of 1 INR.

Post of India, GODL-India https://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/Gazette_Notification_OGDL.pdf, via Wikimedia Commons

The India Postage Stamps website has a complete catalogue of stamps. Please click the link to see many many wonderful stamps.

Colnect is a comprehensive portal for Stamp collectors. It gives detailed information about every listed stamp. Click here for detailed info about Stamps – what is a stamp, types, formats, water marks, perforations and much more.

You can catch up with my previous posts on my 2022AtoZ here.

In addition to the AtoZ, with this post, I am joining Parul in her ThursdayTreeLove blog hop. Do head over to see fantastic trees from around the world. Better still, join in! I think I am over the commenting issues but if you still face difficulties in sharing your thoughts, please click here to do so. Thanks!!

Stay Healthy! Stay Happy!

24/03/202224/03/2022

Feast (ThursdayTreeLove)

Thisis a wonderful Ficus growing on my regula walk route. It’s full of fruit and birds are having a feast!

Ficus is a genus of the Moraceae family. Many Ficus varieties grow in Pune and around India. Either as roadside trees or in gardens and in temples.

Have you seen birds feasting on a Ficus? It’s a great place for birders to see different bird varieties.

I would love to hear from you. If you face issues in commenting below, pleas click here to share your thoughts.

I am joining Parul in her ThursdayTreeLove bloghop. Do head over to see fantastic trees from around the world.

10/03/202210/03/2022

Campus Trees ( ThursdayTreeLove)

Here are some trees that I saw at the Stanford University campus.. the famous Ivy League institution. They added to the intense academic and intellectual aura of the campus and had me in total awe!

Scroll down for a glimpse of some of the beautiful trees.

**Possibly a Pine. The** ***quadruple trunk was fascinating!***

This is just a glimpse. The vast campus would have many treasures from the plant kingdom making it the ideal place to study and research.

***The dramatic white trunk and golden leaves were eye catching. Is it a Sycamore ???***

I am joining Parul in her ThursdayTreeLove bloghop. Do head over to see fantastic trees from around the world. Better still, join in!

I would love to hear from you. In case you face difficulties in commenting, please click here. Thanks!!

24/02/202225/02/2022

Root Pearls (ThursdayTreeLove)

We almost missed this tree as we walked a quaint street in Annapolis. It was a cold day in early Dec 2021 and my husband spotted these unique roots.

I am unable to identify the tree but its lovely ‘root pearls’ ensure I won’t ever forget it!

What do you think? Have you seen this tree?

I am joining Parul in her ThursdayTreeLove bloghop.

I would love to hear from you. In case you face difficulties in commenting, please share your thoughts here.

18/02/202223/06/2023

Tree Course (ThursdayTreeLove)

This is actually a backdated post.. I was unable to post here due to issues with the host or server or WordPress or whatever. Then there have been issues with leaving comments on the posts.

Sigh!

🙁

I had a wonderful opportunity to see trees in their winter glory when I joined my husband on his golf trip. These are images from a golf course in South Carolina, USA.

Click here to read the original post and for a virtual walk around the Tree (Golf) Course!!

27/01/202224/02/2022

Multisensory Experience (ThursdayTreeLove)

Todays post features trees differently.. Rather I am just sharing images of a unique experience that I was lucky to have last month.

The Chicago Botanic Garden has an annual light festival called Lightscape around Christmas and we were to visit. Our tickets were for a 9PM entry hence cold was certainly what I expected but beyond that I really did not know what to look forward to.

But what I experienced was totally mind blowing. Again, a phone camera is totally inadequate to capture the ambience but I that does not stop me from sharing the images. I am sure some of our TTL bloggers from the US would have this or seen similar winter light displays.

Getting back to the garden, we entered via a lit up archway and then walked on an about 1.25 mile-trail (about 2.01 kms) trail. Different artists had decorated each area in different themes using different lights, music and even other special effects like lasers, music, fire (all with due safety precautions!).

Coming as I do from a tropical region, walking at below 0Deg C at night was daunting. But our hosts ensured we were warmly and securely clad which made the walk totally enjoyable and memorable. The entire visit was an grand surreal, multisensory experience.

It was not a walk meant to identify trees. Rather I could appreciate their shapes and growth patterns which were high-lighted by the various lights.

The moon held its own in the night sky despite the (artificial) million lights glittering below and we could spot its reflection in the lake as well.

Here is my humble attempt to capture memories of my visit.
I heavily recommend a visit to this garden at any time of the year and the Christmas light show if possible (I am told tickets get sold out in November itself).

Image credit to Rajendra Sonarikar.

I am joining Parul in her ThursdayTreeLove blog hop. Do head over to see some fantastic trees from aorund the world. Better still, join in.

Lot of my blog visitors have faced difficulties in commenting. If you are unable to comment belw, Please leave your thoughts here. Thank you! I would love to hear from you. 🙏🏻

13/01/202227/01/2022

A Tree And A Nursery Rhyme ( ThursdayTreeLove)

“Here we go around the Mulberry bush…” is a popular nursery rhyme from my childhood and even now. Contrary to the song, it is not a bush but a small tree. Pune has a few of these trees though it is not native to this region and they do flower and fruit every year. Its botanical name is Morus alba and belongs to the Moraceae family.

I wondered about the origins of the rhyme especially when I saw this fruit laden tree. A Wikipedia article revealed some strange history. One theory suggests that the rhyme began with female prisoners at a prison in England who exercised around a Mulberry tree. Another theory suggests that the rhyme could be a joke on the difficulties faced by the silk industry.

This particular tree was filled with fruit though my photo does not do justice to its abundance. The small oval shaped fruit are sweet sour to taste and best eaten when dark in colour. The fruit is also very delicate and crushes easily when handled. Its flowers are green catkins that hand down from axils.

Heart shaped leaves with toothed margins. Some leaves are lobed.

While this tree is small, I have seen a huge one at Joshimath in Uttarakhand, which is said to be an over 2000 year old heritage tree. (Sharing this image though I know it is totally unrelated to the nursery rhyme…)

Again, my photo does not show the massive trunk girth. It is a long walk to go around the tree.

Have you seen the Mulberry Tree? Do you remember the nursery rhyme?

I am joining Parul in her ThursdayTreeLove bloghop. Do head over to see some lovely trees from around the world. Better still, join in!

Some of my blog visitors have been unable to comment here. If you face any commenting issues, please leave your thoughts here. Thanks!! I would love to hear from you!

23/12/202124/12/2021

Calm (ThursdayTreeLove)

“Looking out over the lake, I felt enveloped in the most peaceful, loving utopia.” – Laurie Kahn

My daughter sent me this image as she was struck by the beauty of the blue lake and the tree growing in it. It was impossible to identify the tree, or what made its branches look white. Was it hosting some birds? Or had its leaves turned white for some reason?

The lake itself was still and beautiful and the tree seemed happy to grow in the middle of the water.

All that mattered was the feeling of calm afforded by the view.

I am joining Parul in her ThursdayTreeLove blog hop. Do head over to see some fantastic trees from around the world. Better still, join in!

09/12/202110/12/2021

Tree Frame (ThursdayTreeLove)

At the end of a two hour long walk the cool shade of this Ficus was most welcoming. As I focused my phone camera towards the hill and temple atop, the tree formed a lovely ‘frame’ to the photo.

20210925_082203 — **The Ficus frames the hill in the background**

Most temples have a Ficus growing in their courtyard – usually Ficus religiosa or Ficus benghalensis. This seems to be a Ficus racemosa. All Ficus belong to the Moraceae family and are quite easy to identify.

We hiked in the Bopdev Ghat area of Pune and the place is mostly devoid of trees. There are several hills around and being the monsoon, we could see almost all shades of green. A sight for sore eyes indeed! The few trees that did grow markedly stood out from a distance.

I am joining Parul in her ThursdayTreeLove blog hop. Do head over to see some fantastic trees from around the world. Better still, join in!

PS: I have been facing some issues with my blog..wrt to.uploadimg images, comments. I am trying to sort them out. Thanks for your support and understanding! 🙏🏻

Meanwhile, this same post is on Blogger, and if you face problems in commenting , please click here to comment. Thanks friends!!

11/11/202126/11/2021

Down Memory Lane (ThursdayTreeLove)

I am happy to share that this is my 100th TTL post! I was looking for a special tree for this one but soon realised that each tree is special in its own way.

Hence I settled for a tree from a walk down memory lane. Not mine but my husbands.

Last month, we finally could visit the town where his spent his childhood holidays. Both of us were apprehensive as there were reports that the town had become quite rundown and not worth visiting. But he was not disappointed. To some extent, it felt as if the township was stuck in time. The houses, the lanes, the play ground, guest house and so on were unchanged.. Just older. This meant that my husband could locate every place that he enjoyed years ago. Days spent with grandparents are precious and forever continue to remain bathed in a golden glow.

Here is a tree that was growing near the pool where the kids learnt to swim. It is a Clusea rosea (aka Pitch Apple) of the Clusiaceae family. The tree is also called the Autograph tree because anything scribbled on the leaf with a finger nail remains till the leaf falls off. This species is native to the Carribean.

The leaves reminded me of Magnolia but the flowers were different

The plant can grow as an epiphyte which can explain the supporting roots that grew at the trunk base.

Clusea rosea (5) — **Look closer to see the aerial roots.**

I was happy to meet a new species which made the visit special for me as well. The pool and garden where this tree grew were a special part of his childhood and I was happy to be part of it now albeit via a tree growing there.

Which trees are a part of your childhood memories? A huge Mango tree growing next to our building is a distinct memory from my school days. Sadly no photos of it. What about you?

Thank you all for visiting and commenting my TTL posts. I big shoutout to Parul as well for this fantastic bloghop. Do head over to see some fantastic trees from around the world. Better still, join in!