Eureka! The Answer Was “Trees” All Along!

As those who have glimpsed my Plinky account know already; I was so overwhelmed by my “Freshly Pressed” feature, that I didn’t know what to try next. I love using Plinky for inspiration, but I don’t want my blog to rely on prompts.

I want my blog to be as passionate as I am, and let’s face it; I can’t be passionate about everything Plinky prompts me to write on.

But no fear! For today I came up with a wonderful solution to my blogger-block… StumbleUpon!

As a tool that conforms to my preferences and interests, it’s great for finding internet content that I am passionate about, no hassle! Plus it’s just fun. We all know the StumbleUpon jokes… “Just ONE more click before I go to sleep…”

But despite its sleep-depriving difficulties, StumbleUpon is one of my favorite ways to get inspired — both in ways of artistic creation and in writing.

My scheme was this:  I was going to StumbleUpon a suitable page and allow it to inspire me. Unfortunately it took several clicks to find something blog-able but this list snagged my attention:

10 Most Magnificent Trees in the World

I just finished taking a Botany class, but my fascination with trees goes back much further. I have my own little list of favorite trees, be sure to check out the interesting facts I’ve collected about them too.

Tree-lovers, unite!

SUPERKAIT’S FAVORITE TREES:

Maple Tree

I grew up with two Sugar Maples growing in my front lawn. Despite its seemingly commonplace abundancy in the Midwest and New England states, the maple tree is one of my favorites for a couple of reasons.

First of all if you have never tried real maple syrup, then you don’t know what you’re missing. It’s nothing like store-bought syrup and is absolutely to die for when served on pancakes.

Another reason I like the Maple so much is because of how beautiful they are in autumn. Fall is my all-time favorite season, and there’s nothing like a pile of red-orange Maple leaves for playing in and stuffing into big plastic pumpkin bags for Halloween.

Drive through Minnesota in fall and you’ll see why people love them: They really add to the atmosphere with their vibrant fall colors.

Birch Tree

Back home in the great state of Minnesota, a birch tree grew outside my bedroom window. It used to blow against the house and knock on my window at night, sometimes scaring the shit out of me, but it was generally a great tree to have around.

I love birches for more nostalgic reasons than practical or aesthetic reasons, but I used to like peeling the paper-thin bark off of birch trees and writing messages to my friends on it.

Giant Sequoia

So majestic, as noted in the aforementioned “10 Maginifecent Trees” post.  However, as one of the worlds largest trees, the Giant Sequoias made my list for one cool reason: they’re so big they can be made into car tunnels!

That itself just blows my mind. I can’t wait for a chance to drive out west and find a place that I can drive under one of the worlds most majestic trees.

Weeping Willow

Another tree that I grew up around in my Minnesota home and grew to love dearly was the willow. While it was not necessarily in my backyard, our neighbor had one and it was one of my favorite places to play growing up. In Botany class I learned how the bark of the willow trees (Salix) gave rise to modern aspirin. A very important tree, no doubt!

They are a graceful, fast growing tree that is very good for landscaping. The only downside to having a willow tree on the lake in Minnesota is that it attracts all sorts of bugs when it’s muggy out.

But that’s small price to pay for beautiful tree as this. Also: did you know that Shakespeare made regular allusions to willow trees in his plays and poems?

Rainbow Eucalyptus Tree

As the most beautiful tree I have ever heard of, but have yet to see in person, the Rainbow Eucalyptus is one of my favorite trees to look at pictures of.

Isn’t it beautiful?

The tree’s bark sheds at different times of year, revealing the bright-green inner bark. as layers get old, this then darkens and matures to give blue, purple, orange and then maroon hues on the trunk.

Pretty nifty, eh?

Apparently the Rainbow Eucalyptus tree is a major pulp wood tree for making paper in the Philippines.  Man, what I wouldn’t give to see a whole grove of these in season!

…So there you have it, folks! I love trees. Also, I highly recommend looking up more pictures of the Rainbow Gum/Eucalyptus tree to get the full experience. (:

Happy surfing!

Kaitlin Tow ♥
Amatuer Botanist & Tree Hugger