Monday, 8:00 AM. 4 degrees, wind W, calm. The sky is clear and blue and the sun is already high, perhaps at a 30 degree angle from the horizon, much higher than a month ago, and much further north. In another month it will cross the equator and it will be spring, at least astronomically.Two immigrant conifers often seen are the Norway spruce, Picea abies, and the Scots pine, Pinus sylvestrus. The former can be told, particularly when older, from native spruces by its very pendulous branches and weeping habit (cones and needles are other characteristics not necessary to go into here). The Scots pine is a relatively short needled species (though not as short as the native jack pine), needles very bluish in color, and the bark of an older tree very orange colored, easily distinguishing it from native pines. Both grow pretty well, the Scots pine being salt tolerant because its native habitat is the Atlantic ocean coast of Scotland. For most purposes the native trees will be better, although the weeping habit of the Norway spruce can be very artistic. The trees pictured were all planted a half century and more ago by good buddy and Yale Forestry School graduate Andy Larsen (he of sugar bush fame) on what was then his his grandfather's property.
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