Let me call this, Walks with Beauty because without going walkabout I would never have met this beautiful tree.
Once upon a time there was a unknown conifer down on another street and it had these beautiful pine cones growing on the tips of the branches. The looked just like a fully opened rose.
I picked a few up very day whenever I walked that way. Soon there where quite a few of them and certainly enough to make a wreath with. Most of them came from the tree after it had to be cut down. A wind storm blew a big limb over into a neighbor's roof, from which it took a healthy sized chunk. It was expensive to fix, so the owner of the tree, deciding that he now had a dangerous tee, just cut it down. Drought had made it weak, and there was no choice.
The day it was cut down, I ran home for my big laundry basket, and hot footed it back down to grab all the fabulous cones I could before their beauty had attracted a crowd of crafters. These are what I have left from that time.
Have you ever seen ones like this before?
Ravelymics event sock is about three inches long. So much (too much) excitement in this last week. There was a lot of activity at our neighbor's house, and it may be that the man is finally being moved down closer to his family. I certainly hope so. So long as the memories are happy, being close to one's family is very important at any age of the life cycle.
We almost got a spiffy new cell phone but the man selling them at Costco was misinformed. DH regrets the four hours of trying to sort it all out, so that our daughter could be in the family plan. I wanted to text message like a mad woman, too, as I hear that it's lots and lots of fun!
Happy knitting to Team Resolutions 2008! May we win ourselves something cute and "hot" even. I'd go for "hot" myself.
Those are the most beautiful pinecones ever. I've never seen any like those.
ReplyDeleteHi AR, thanks for your comment about the cedar cones. I found a woman selling them on Amazon of all places. Mine are a little different looking, more rose like, I think. I remember the tree being very dark green and thought it might have been a cedar tree but not like any that I'd ever seen before.
ReplyDeleteThis is the URL for that Amazon site
http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Dried-Cedar-Flowers-Cones/dp/B0013Z404S
I, too, have never seen such lovelies!
ReplyDeleteNot like what we have here, which are also sweet.
Good on you for gathering them. I know the suffering of having to euthanize a tree.
Nancy
These are Deodar Cedar cones.
ReplyDeleteNo they are not - look it up on Wiki
DeleteThank you, A, for solving the mystery. That was the most lovely tree. I can still remember it in my mind's eye. Very dark green in color and sort of lacy.
ReplyDeleteWell, ok. I did look it up on wiki, even searched for it, and there is no entry for rose shaped cones or is there a cone like these in wiki pine cones. I did find this page from The Plant Forum at Garden Web, and the ones from the pictures match mine. I also looked up Shore pine which was another suggestion, but the trees look nothing like the tree these came from. What other tree did you have in mind? Inquiring minds wish to know, truly. And thank you for pausing to comment. I appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteHere's the discussion at the Plant Forum:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/namegal/msg111939598621.html
I have a tree that drops the same rose cones. I can't find a name for it either. Everyone tells me they know its name, but when I look it up, its not my tree. My tree looks like a fir or pine. We always thought it was a fir because it has no christmasy scent!. It is about the size of a three story building, has needles, stays green all year, and it gets long yellow pollen pods that make the whole yard yellow. Then the rose cones start to fall about a month later.
DeleteDid you ever find a name for your tree? I would really like to know. I have been to tree websites, no help there.
Thanx, Christina
Hi Christina, thank you for reading and commenting on the . The tree that I collected from was a Cedrus deodara. The cones were exactly as you described, the rose shaped part detached from the longer part of the cone that stayed on the tree.
DeleteI hope you get to see this answer, because I can't email you. The other suggestions, like Tamarack, just didn't fit the size of this tree. Also, the link to garden web above has a good picture of the cones and a good discussion of the trees.
Those cones are indeed from the Deodar Cedar Tree - they are the tops of an egg-shaped cone. As they dry out, they fall apart and all that is left are piles of petals and the Cedar Roses. Hope this helps! ~ PineConeLady
DeleteAbsolutely, they are! That's exactly what the cones on this beautiful tree do, they shed. And thank you for commenting and confirming it. I went to your site and wowzer, it is a great site! I love that you are also a Defender of Wildlife. whooot! You've been bookmarked. :-)
DeleteI live in NC and discovered the rose a few years back. It looks like the deodar. Difference, I remember the roses being THICKER, more wood like. Any experience on that?? They are so lovely. Thanks
DeleteThank you so much for your visit and comment.
DeleteThe Deodar Cedar roses from this California tree may have been effected by the long standing drought conditions, so it may be that cones here have thinner seed pads. And, unlike other cones with the same sort of connection to a central stem like structure, these shed off the top of that. They drop to the ground, leaving part of the cone attached to the tree, just as the PineConeLady has pointed out. I'd like it if they were thicker as then they wouldn't be quite so fragile. Have a great day.