Meet Juglans nigra, the eastern American Black Walnut tree. It's particularly stunning in autumn, especially in a country park or arboretum. But where is this one? In the back garden of a terraced house in Wood Green, overshadowing our, and several neighbouring gardens.
Why on earth would we call such a splendid specimen a "bastard weed tree" [an epithet usually reserved for the grubby and dastardly sycamores that overhang the other side of the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers]?
This!
Every year, the chore of clearing all this crap just gets worse...
Sigh. Here's something appropriate - and rather jolly - to take our minds off it:
What that boy can do with his carrot and bongos is amazing!
Well, it is a beautiful tree, but don't the oblivious, beautiful ones always leave you to clear up the mess they leave in their wake?
ReplyDeleteP.S. That boy could do with someone to hold his massive carrot while he bangs his bongos, don't you think?
Oh, I've met a few "oblivious, beautiful ones" in my time - but they can clear up their own mess! I would, however, love to cut Juglans nigra off in its prime!
DeleteYes, I was rather taken with that young man scratching his huge carrot... Jx
We had a house surrounded by our own woods. We let the leaves fall in the woods. We raked the garden. But our neighbors trees dumped their leaves weeks later after ours had been raked a couple of times. Oh, did that piss me off!
ReplyDeleteIt's the same here - first it's the sycamore seeds, then the walnut leaves, then after both are dealt with, the sycamores drop their leaves. Bastards. Jx
DeleteI love all the autumn color now. But gibe it three weeks, and the garden will be mid-calf deep in leaves!!! Right now, the garden is clear. We generally leave the last cleanup of leaves in the garden as it helps protect and insulates the garden in the winter months and then often composes when the thaw and rains of spring starts. This weekend has been downright glorious!
ReplyDeleteToday started off foul and wet but cleared off to a warm and sunny afternoon, so I was able to scrape at least a navigable pathway between the leaves. I'll get around to bagging them up to go in the bin at a later stage. We never want piles of decaying crud lying around, as that's a perfect breeding-ground for all the slugs and snails that ravage our garden every year, but inevitably it's a race against time to get things sorted when we're both working and the days are getting shorter and shorter...
DeleteI hate "the season of death". Jx
That is a beautiful tree, but I know know black walnuts are infamous for their nuts staining your hands or bare feet. That is the grooviest version of Autumn Leaves I have ever heard, and love that band.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I know about black walnuts is that every bloody squirrel in the neighbourhood wants them, and then goes around digging up and burying the bloody things in our plant pots.
DeleteThe Latin Jazz Mode Band's a great discovery - they are faboo! Jx
Fab photo capturing the mood of the season and as for the Evil tree, at least when the leaves are down we might get some light.
ReplyDeleteLight in winter is hardly helpful to our poor plants, when it's their dormant season. I'm banking on a lightning strike or two to take the bastards out! Jx
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