tree-of-heaven

•
 

From China to UT and it only took 250 years.

The Tree of Heaven is originally native to China and has been grown both there and elsewhere as a host plant for the ailanthus silkmoth caterpillar used in the production of silk. (They spin cocoons and we carefully unwind the yards and yards and yards of raw silk.)
 

The Tree of Heaven was first imported into Europe in the 1740s perhaps along the legendary Silk Road and then into this country in 1784. It was one of the first trees brought west during a time when chinoiserie—a style of decorative ornamentation that features the extensive use of Chinese motifs—was dominating European arts. China was all the rage. The west was fascinated by all things from the East. Many homes had Chinese vases, prints, knickknacks.
 

Back then, Ailanthus was prized as a beautiful specimen for gardens and city streets. It grows rapidly with dense foliage and can reach heights of 80 feet.
 

Today, its popularity has faded but you can find them throughout our area. At this time of the year, look for the cascade of flattened, winged seeds that are a pale yellow that turns to a pinkish gold finally mellowing to a brown the color of your morning toast. There’s several of the Chinese trees now in seed growing on the riverbank along the Neyland Drive Greenway.
 

This reminds us yet once again of Rabindranath Tagore's wonderful quote: "Trees are the earth’s endless effort to speak to the listening heaven."
 

Enjoy the history that grows incognito in our valley.

•

is it a sign?

•




Dare we look for a sign? Dare I give financial advice? Dare I think about anything financial since I work at a non-profit and write books on the side? What do I know about profit?

But finding this new leaf so late in the season on a sycamore growing along the Neyland Drive Greenway, led me to wonder if it was a sign that the economy has made a real and lasting turnaround. New growth.

Sycamores, or as they once were called, buttonwoods, have a curious tie to the American stock market. The origin of the bartering place can be traced back to May 17, 1792, when the so-called "Buttonwood Agreement" was signed by 24 stockbrokers at 68 Wall Street in New York City. The signing, handshakes and pats on the back took place outside (as all good things do) under a buttonwood tree growing on Wall Street at the time.

On March 8, 1817, the organization drafted a constitution and renamed itself the "New York Stock & Exchange Board," although seeing that I am a naturalist, I would have preferred the Buttonwood Board.

•

comeback

Beavers were virtually eliminated from our country by the end of the 19th Century. Since the 1700s, beaver garments had been the fashion rage in Europe. The well-dressed man couldn't be well-dressed without a top hat made from beaver pelts. Trapping was unregulated. Warner Shedd reports that the Hudson's Bay Company alone sold over three million beaver pelts in a twenty-five year period in the late 1800s. One hundred years ago beavers were considered essentially extinct in Tennessee but they have made a remarkable comeback; so much so that finding beaver sign—gnawed branches and tree trunks or tracks in the mud—even in urban settings, has become commonplace.

As a rule, beavers build dams that turn slow moving creeks into ponds where they can assemble their lodges. But some beavers live in the deep water of lakes and rivers and construct their lodges along the shore, underground.

A walk on the greenway at Holston River Park on Sunday turned up fresh beaver sign along the shoreline. And then last night, at twilight, a very large adult beaver swam under the Neyland Drive Greenway into the mouth of Third Creek on UT’s Ag Campus. It eventually came ashore and disappeared into the darkness.

Illustration by Stephen Lyn Bales