Your attractive photo gives a very good representation of what these trees look like.
We have two large arbutus trees in our our garden. As I've probably mentioned previously, the madrone, arbutus menziesii, goes by the name of arbutus over here -- just a very few miles across the watery international boundary. Unfortunately our trees like many others in Washington State and southwest BC are being ravaged by a virus for which there is no long term cure.
very nice
Thank you, and thanks for the interesting story about the name difference
I know there are big problems with pine beetles because of warmer temperatures. Not cold long enough to kill them off. This was big in Alberta when we went. Montana and Colorado are also having issues. I know in California there is sudden Oak death devastating those beautiful trees. Coupled with droughts, bad news. On our way back from Alberta into BC I would look out and say this all is ripe for a burn. Sure enough we barely got out before we wouldn't have been able to.
I'm not sure the virus, I must look that up.
I like the composition and the colours.
Cheers Ole
Thank you Ole and Brian for commenting. Their colors are so amazing, and the funky shapes are different for every tree.
Sharon, your comment prompted me to do some research myself.
We've had an arborist looking after our two arbutus but I found some additional thoughts in the following material. It seems my science was a bit out of wack. The generally accepted view is that the dieback problem is primarily a fungal disease problem. Do you have any madrone near where you live? [Edit: perhaps Anacortes is on the island where you took your picture?]
Here are some useful sites I found:
https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/...rbmen/all.html
http://www.virdigrisgardening.com/ar...-is-happening/
http://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca...utus-tree.547/
https://catalog.extension.oregonstat...pdf/ec1619.pdf
Very nice photograph.
Bruce
Very interesting Bruce. I do hope that we continue to make efforts to save our trees. Some of it is natural cycle, some just pure devastation. Yes, this photo is on the "island" of Anacortes! They have a pretty big presence here, near the water, on cliffs, etc.
I am glad science has taken a vested interest.
I remember being in Colorado for some training a couple years ago, and a woman called into a radio program and she told the host "Wow, I drive up towards the mountains and see all these beautiful trees with their red needles, so gorgeous. The radio host responded "ma'am, those trees are evergreens, and they are dead.
😯
Last edited by lovelife65; 26th October 2017 at 07:49 PM.
Very nice image; however, it can frighten one at night