Barking up the right tree
Trees are beautiful for many reasons: shape, foliage, flowers, seeds. We grow them for food, timber, shelter and shade. We hug them, we worship them, and we fight over them.
I love trees, and what I love most is their bark. The colors and patterns of bark are a feast for the eye. Its surface textures beg to be explored with our hands. Bark is what makes a tree unique. Bark is sexy.
And bark is a fantastic subject for abstract photography.
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| Gum tree (Eucalyptus sp.), Davis, CA |
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| Gum tree (Eucalyptus sp.), Davis, CA |
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| Sydney red gum (Angophora costata), Sydney, Australia |
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| Santa Cruz Island ironwood (Lyonothamnus floribundus ssp. aspleniifolius), Davis, CA |
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| California fan palm (Washingtonia filifera), Sacramento, CA |
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| Snow Gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora), Sydney, Australia |
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| Cut-leaf European white birch (Betula pendula ‘Crispa’), Davis, CA |
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| Red alder (Alnus rubra), Forks, WA |
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| Cork oak (Quercus suber), Davis, CA |
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| Not a tree, but a tree aloe (Aloe barberae), Sydney, Australia |
These photos, all taken in 2010, only the scratch the surface as far as the immense variety of bark is concerned. Many more images can be found on Google.
I will never see any of these trees growing in my climate. Too bad, because this is some awesome bark! Where were these photos taken?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I never knew that there was such a thing as "tree aloe".
Alan, I added location info to the photos above. Many were actually taken here in town.
ReplyDeleteTree aloe: There are quite a few aloes that grow to tree size. Aloe barberae is supposedly the tallest with a max. height of 40 ft. Geoff Stein wrote a great series of articles on aloes over at Davesgarden.com. Here are two specifically on tree aloes:
Part 1: Unbranched tree aloes (http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/212/
Part 2: Branching tree aloes (http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/217/)