Friday, December 7, 2012

Tree #2

The hackberry.

When the University Forester and Domain Manager came to my house a couple of weeks ago, they gave me permission to cut down the two dead tulip poplars that concerned me.  

Then they volunteered that I might remove one bush (which the birds love) and the hackberry tree with a limb that should definitely be lopped.  "Invasive species," they said.  They tied both with bright orange to signal their permission and left.

I thought about what they said, and I thought of the birds that pluck berries from the bush and the butterflies that flutter there.  I remembered the Hackberry Emperor butterfly I photographed on my deck rail in August. 


And then I walked out to the yard and cut off both plastic bands.


I now know two trees for sure: the sycamore with its buttonballs and the hackberry with its beautiful emperors.

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