Take for example Maples. No one ever associates Maples with flowers. Here is a Norway Maple in my front yard. At a glance it appears that the tree is simply pushing out this year’s set of leaves. Closer inspection reveals that it’s actually the maple’s bouquet of flowers, it’s offering to would-be pollinators. I have no idea what those pollinators are, but I’m sure it’s some kind of insect.

And here we have a Norway Spruce. Apparently someone of Norwegian descent must have lived here decades ago and attempted to recreate their homeland. I assume these are the starts of flowers, but I could be wrong. Spruces and Firs often have red, purple or bluish colored flowers and I believe most conifers tend to rely solely on the wind for pollination as they produce exorbitant amounts of pollen.

In addition to replacing dead trees, I also more densely populated existing groupings. The closer the trees are, the sooner their branches will begin to touch, and the faster they will grow height, rather than width. Pines (the vast majority of what I plant) require loads of sunlight, so when their needles started getting shaded by another tree, they start racing upwards to avoid being shaded to death.

I like planting the trees and imagining what they will look like in 5, 10, 20 years down the road. I also like the idea of someday stepping out my back door and smelling the pine scent in the air. I get my love of trees from my mom, however I get my specific love of Pine trees from my dad.

So here are my new specimens and why I chose them:

• Jeffrey Pine: Bark smells like vanilla. Yum.
• Grand Fir: Looks cool.
• Dawn Redwood: One of the oldest known tree species, can be found in fossils.
• Concolor Fir: Found some of these growing in the Mark Twain Natl Forest…Looks cool.
• Douglas-Fir: Gets really tall, looks cool.
• Deodar Cedar: Unique and looks cool.

So, basically I just picked out ones that I think look cool. I’m sure to most people these trees all look exactly the same, but thanks to my geek skillz I was able to easily identify each one once I got them out of the boxes. I’m sure it seems like a waste of time and money to a lot of people, but I enjoy the process of planting them and watching them grow over the years. And eventually I’ll enjoy the way they change the look and feel of the property!

1. Red Thai and Orange Thai – Although technically two different types, I will group them since they are both ‘thai’ and both extremely hot. They are small, especially the orange ones, sometimes less than 1″ long but that’s really all it takes. These are good for those who want to try something over the top hot, but are intimidated by larger peppers.
2. Scotch Bonnet – This funny looking pepper is only funny until you eat it. A type of Habanero, there are only 2 known hotter species than this… the related Red Savina, and the Naga Jalokia (aka Ghost Pepper). I grow these only for novelty…they are way too hot for most normal applications, but it’s fun to take them to work and watch the other guys prove their manhood by trying to eat them.
3. Fish Peppers – I ordered these seeds just because they looked cool. All these came from the same plant. Some are striped, some are albino. Even the plant was weird looking. The catalog rated these as “very hot” but I find them to be quite mild compared to the previous two, which were both rated “extreme”.
4. Poblano – This is one of my favorite types to cook with because they have nice flavor and sometimes dye everything green. These are the largest peppers I grew this year, generally 5-6″, but if you want spice…these have barely more kick than a bell pepper.
5. Volcano – I don’t know anything about these. The seeds came free with my order and I haven’t tried one yet. So I don’t know what it tastes like or how hot they are. I assume it to be a middle of the road variety.

1. Plant some raspberries.
2. Wait until you have so many berries you don’t know what to do with them.
3. Call mom to ask how canning works and hope she offers to basically do it for you.

Now that all that is settled, here are the steps of actually making the jam.

First, you need to rinse off the berries. I didn’t use any pesticides or anything like that, so it’s mainly leaves, dirts, and bugs that need to come off. For the record, rinsing these guys is kind of difficult and I’m not sure how effective my method was.

Put the berries in a pot and heat and smash them until you create a boiling pot of raspberry juice.

Add the same amount of sugar as you have raspberries. Continue boiling for about 5 minutes until it forms a gel like substance.

This is what it should look like when it’s done. You can either eat it now or freeze it. But if you want to store the jam in your cabinet for decades, then continue on to the next step.

Pour the jam into mason jars of whatever size you want. Make sure the lips are nice and clean, screw on a new canning lid, and drop the jars into boiling water for several minutes using this weird scissor-lift tool.

While the jars are boiling, lick the spatula thing.

Take the jars out of the boiling water and place them on the counter. Eventually the tops will make a ‘pop’ sound and you know it’s sealed. If they don’t seal then you’re pretty much screwed.

Now you have delicious raspberry jam that will last you throughout the winter months!

Dawn Redwood

The third redwood, which you’ve probably never heard of is the lesser known Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), one of the oldest known tree species. This species is interesting because it had been identified only in fossils and was thought to be extinct until a grove of them was discovered in China in the middle part of the 20th century. So this is one of only a handful of tree species I know of which were around when dinosaurs roamed the planet.

The scientific name suggests to me that scientists don’t think this redwood is quite as cool as it’s record setting cousins. That, or they think it’s just too weird… which may be somewhat true. In many ways I actually think the Dawn Redwood is more similar to a Bald Cypress (also a distant relative). I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a Dawn Redwood but they are the only redwood that will grow in Missouri so I should probably plant a few.

Atlas Cedar - actually a cedar!

As far as “true cedars” go, there are only 2, the Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara) and the Cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani). These are native to the middle east and western himalayas. Cedars cannot tolerate excessively cold weather; southern Missouri is on the fringe of their range. The only one you have probably ever seen around here is a subspecies of the Lebanon Cedar commonly called the Atlas Cedar (Cedrus libani var. atlantica) – sometimes planted as an ornamental. I actually have one in my yard (pictured) and I think it’s really cool.

Douglas Fir - not a Fir

What I find strange is that it’s genus Pseudotsuga actually means ‘False Hemlock’…not false fir. Upon doing some research I have found that scientists have had a hard time classifying this tree. At various times it has been placed in the genus of Pines, Spruce, Fir, Sequoia, and lo and behold…the Hemlocks. Mystery solved. Eventually I guess they gave up and decided to just create a new genus since it didn’t quite fit into any of those other groups. But I still think they should have made the scientific name match up with the common name.

At any rate, I am a fan of the Douglas Fir even if it is a total poser like the Tulip Poplar. Though native in the Rocky Mountain states, Douglas Firs are most notable in the Pacific Northwest where they have been documented to attain heights of nearly 400′, the thought of which gives me goosebumps.

Aspen, Tulip Poplar, White Poplar, Eastern Cottonwood

Poplars also include Quaking Aspens (Populus tremuloides) and Eastern Cottonwoods (Populus deltoides)… and while I think it would make sense to just call them all various Poplars, at least they aren’t named after a genus that is a different and completely unrelated tree family.

Even if you don’t know the scientific name, the shape of the leaves alone give some indication that it’s unrelated to Poplars. Poplar leaves are generally spade shaped with teeth, where the tulip poplar has no teeth and has a very unusual notched palm shape. In fact, I am not sure what the Tulip Poplar IS related to, if anything. It’s just a weird tree. Cool, but weird. Not unlike myself!

So what does make me feel more connected to God? Things like this sunflower next to my house with it’s perfect double spiral pattern. Every time I see something like this I feel as though I’m standing before direct evidence of God’s presence among us. Humans can make a cheap plastic imitation, but only God can make a tiny seed that converts water, dirt, and sunlight into flower that forms these bright colors and patterns without any human intervention. And if the design alone isn’t enough, it interacts symbiotically with countless other creations. Seeing things like this reminds me that I am not here by sheer coincidence of two colliding stars in a universe without purpose.

While it doesn’t make me a better person, being out in the world that God created, and appreciating His works of art make me feel much more connected to Him in a way that simply attending a church service surrounded by all things man-made can seldom do. In a way I suppose taking this photo and showing it off to the world is, albeit unconventional, my song of praise to our creator.