Sunday, October 9, 2016

The Hills

The Smoky Hills were showing off one day last week.
Smoky Hills
The Aspen or Popple is golden.  Aspen is a fancy word…for Popple.  It is a worthless tree, it has few uses…some v groove paneling is made from it and firewood that oozes a dark brown bubbly substance that has reminded me of our favorite name for it…Piss Popple.

They die from the top down, we have several out in our woods that are in the process of dying…they make fine woodpecker playgrounds.  Eventually only the main trunk is left and it finally topples over.  Many times they grow from a common root and just branch out just like in the photo. In the spring you can see two different types of Populus species in the hills…one leafs out before the other.
IMG_3901
May 5 2016
Populus tremuloides.  That is the scientific name.  It is a prairie tree.  The cotton that fills the air every June has been said to drive some women mad…those fluffy seeds are everywhere.  Given half a chance the seeds germinate where they land.
  Hills in July
July 2016
Fun to see the hills change with the seasons.
Blog Signature

8 comments:

Rita said...

Oh, the poor aspen. A lot of people don't appreciate the cottonwood, either. I'm a sucker for the underdog...and for those natural prairie trees. ;)

Red said...

I happen to like polar trees as they are a native species. Yes I know they are a poor quality tree. My Dad built his barn from poplar and the barn is still in use.

still the lucky few said...

Glad that the aspen gets to have it's moment in the sun...when it changes color! When I was a child, growing up on the northern prairies, aspens (we use to call them poplars) were a mainstay of the sparse forests there.

Terry and Linda said...

It is fun! Our Quaking Aspen are very beautiful this time of year...the little leaves look like dancing coins in the wind!

Linda

Sam I Am...... said...

I love poplars. I had no idea they had such a bad reputarion! LOL! I still love them though! Are they the same aspens as in Colorado?

Far Side of Fifty said...

Yes the one and the same:)

Jacqi Stevens said...

Well...at least the woodpeckers like them ;)

Paula said...

What a lesson I learned from you today! But I love the aspens. They make me remember fond times in Colorado!!