Thursday, May 15, 2008

The chestnut spikes bloom and so does the may


May 13th. The chestnut spikes are out and the tree looking glorious. You really need to click on this pic and see it full size. This is a remarkable tree.

May 8. Spikes out not quite so far.

April the beginning of the leaves.

Close up of the flowers. Those tiny green balls will eventually become conkers I imagine.

The flowers and the leaves. See how the leaves are starting to look tough and high-summery. There is a whole essay on chestnut leaves in the Penguin edition of Hopkins poems. They always have 7 leaflets he says (I'm not sure he's right, but they normally do). Anyway here is an essay on Hopkin's essay that I found on the net.

Anyway the may blossom (hawthorne) is amazing in the forest this year so I must include a pic. You suddenly come across them blazing white as you walk through the forest.

1 comment:

Dan said...

Your tree is a fine looking Horse Chestnut. It looks great with so many flowers!