Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Weird and Wonderful


Some people call them Arbutus. Here in Seattle we call them Madronas. Whatever you call them they are extraordinary trees.


They are the only broad leafed evergreen trees native to this area.


I took these pictures in a park in Magnolia to help with a new painting. (By the way. The story goes that the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle was named after these wonderful trees but the namer got the name wrong. There is another neighborhood called Madrona, where, as far as I know, there aren't many of these trees.)

2 comments:

  1. they are amazing aren't they? i have white birch in my yard that are also beautiful...the closer you get to them the more interesting they are. nick likes to write notes on the papery bark!

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  2. I love the madrone trees but they are messy. We had one next door to us when I was a child and they drop their old leaves in the middle of the summer. It makes for a very crunchy walk down the alley. But, they are beautiful.

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