Cones

The photograph above is of the branches of a tamarack (American Larch) tree, one of my favorites. This is a deciduous conifer (a cone-bearing tree that sheds its needles). Native people used this tree to make canoes and kayaks. We are cultivating every seedling here that we find. The tamaracks glow orange in the late fall long after the other trees have shed their leaves in the autumn.

Large female cones

Tamaracks have male and female cones on the same tree. Above you see the large female cones. It is winter now and the ground is covered with snow. The tamaracks are bare — except that they still have these cones on them.

Male cones

In the photo above you can see (perhaps; you may need to click the photo and see the original size on Flickr) the itty, bitty male cones.The National Phenology Network tells us on their tamarack page that

The small, yellowish male cones bear pollen and the reddish brown female cones mature and become pale brown. Cone production begins when the tree matures at about 15-40 years of age, and pollination occurs by wind.

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Our Tamaracks

Larix laricina

After the foliage season here, we have Stick Season. That is when the woods are dark, without leaves. The trees are sticks. This season lasts until winter — whenever the snow first comes. But right in there somewhere when all the trees are sticks is tamarack season. These are northern larch trees. They are also called American larch, eastern larch and hackmatack. Long after the oaks and maples have given us their beauty, these tamaracks seem to be on fire. After this bright foliage display, they lose their leaves and appear to be dead. I was going to cut mine down the first year I was here because I thought I had a bunch of dead trees! Thank goodness I didn't. They were back the next spring with vibrant new green leaves. These trees are great for making canoes. They grow quickly and spread easily. As John restored the ancient stream beds and regraded the land here to prevent anymore flash floods, he carefully saved every tamarack tree he could see. We now have over a dozen of the trees between the house and the upper field. These are photographs of three of them.

Come drive our roads during tamarack foliage season. The mountains are wild with their color.

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