Getting There

Despite my continued frustration at my relatively slow progress trying to restore our property, I was happy to see how big one of our black gum trees (Nyssa sylvatica) is getting.  I am enjoying its fall color.

However, that is not what prompted this post.  While trying to get some shots of the fall leaves (with my digital camera, not posted here), something caught my eye.  My alder trees are finally making flower buds/catkins!  I have been known to get pretty excited when my trees become sexually mature!

These trees started as bare root seedlings that had been temporarily planted in a decaying mulch pile.  After too many years of not moving them to there final location, I finally moved them this spring.  The move seems to have been very beneficial to them.  They recovered quickly and are now about 5 feet tall...and making there first catkins.  I hope to protect them from the deer and see them bloom in the spring.  I am, also, looking forward to seeing their cone-like seedpods come fall and winter. :)

Hazelnuts

I took this photo at the end of September, but never got around to posting it.  After stumbling across it today, I remembered Rebecca's question about an earlier picture and decided I'd put off posting this long enough.  

I finally was able to harvest some hazelnuts and see what they look like when they are mature.  Last year, a deer munched on the immature, developing husk and nut...long before it would've ripened.  So, this year, I harvested several early, and then came across these mature ones.  I tasted some and left the rest for wildlife.  Next year, there should be a lot more!

I believe these are the male catkins...I don't have photos of the female flower buds, but I'd like to assume with so many male catkins ready to overwinter, there must be a lot of the female flower buds that will bloom come spring.  Time will tell.