One theme I posted about when I visited Singapore two years ago was Trees of Singapore. In just a few days I had taken lots of pictures of trees that I found interesting. Trees come in many different sizes and shapes and when you travel to a new climate you notice that trees are not all the same.
I realised I have also taken many pictures of trees in my local area since I moved here some nine years ago. So I decided to do a 'best of' post with trees.
Rocky ridges with fertile valleys
I live in the municipality Botkyrka south west of Stockholm. The climate on the east coast of Sweden is continental with cold winters and warm summers. It is much less rainy and windy than what I was used to when I lived in Denmark.
The landscape here is different too. Rocky ridges with fertile valleys. Lakes connected by small streams. Long light days in the summer, long dark nights in the winter.
The lands have been cultivates by farmers for millennia, still the rocky ridges are as wild as when the first humans arrived. Freeways and railroads cut through the bedrock, still you don't need to travel far to find a forest trail to have all for yourself.
Pine, fir, birch, and oak
In Denmark where I grew up the characteristic forest tree is beech. Here, the abundant trees are pine, fir, birch and oak. Pines grow on the rocky outcroppings with roots holding on to the very rock itself. Firs standing tall in dark quiet cathedrals with their strong smell of resin. Birches like water and grow on the wet lowland. Oaks trees often on the northern side of the hills, taking advantage of the long summer days where their thick foliage can catch the morning and evening sunlight.
As in Denmark, the slow growing oak came in short demand during the Age of Sail. The many wars between Denmark and Sweden took its toll on the population of oak in both countries. Danish kings ordered planting of new trees, which now centuries later are about the right size for ship building. In Sweden, all oaks were declared the king's and chopping down an oak tree would incur severe punishment. Which means we today have many free standing oaks in otherwise cleared areas.
Oaks die of old age. Birch trees splinters from thaw and frost in early spring/late winter. Firs die from insect attacks. Beavers take any tree with foliage growing near the water. The occasional storm topples old trees and makes room for new life. Except for where they are a hazard to local traffic, dead trees lay where they fall forming habitats for insects and fungi for years as they slowly dissolve.
Thanks for reading
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed today's post. I'm Frederik Jensen, AKA Thoughtful Dane. I blog about photography, travel and game design. I'm a Dane living in Sweden since 2011. If you are new to my blog, you are welcome to explore my backlog of posts about photography and subscribe to get notified of new posts.
