Tom Kimmerer, PhD

Its wood properties are similar. The western tree most used for pencils is incense cedar, Calocedrus decurrens.

It is, thank you!

Delightful as always. Thank you!

It's a tree with many names. The more useful a tree is to people, the more names it tends to have. That's why we use Latin names to be precise.

Most wood has some fragrance naturally, but redcedar - wood or oil - is quite distinct.

Yes, they do.

Tom Kimmerer (@tomkimmerer) I like to write by hand; it’s how I wrote my first book and, if my hand holds up, will do the same for the next books. I like fountain pens (two Lamy’s in the first picture) and I like wood pencils. ...

Pencils are wonderful writing tools. After a long dominance of the pencil industry by one tree, eastern redcedar, there has been a long absence of these pencils from the market. It is, though, the best wood for pencils. Read about redcedar and the return of cedar pencils at Our Trees.

You miss the point: the US and other countries made a serious effort to create a hemp fiber industry, enlisted expert farmers, invested plenty of money. It failed completely because the crop lacks sufficient income and can never compete with wood pulp. We tried, it failed. End of story.

Nice mug shot!

This is an annual, predictable series of events, more pronounced in dry years (which this is not in eastern North America).

Be patient with yourself.

I’m sure you will be focused when it is on the verge of coming out!

There are lots of technologies that we have replaced with better ones. Hemp once occupied large amounts of agricultural land which we now need for more efficient crops. When US farmers tried hemp a few years ago, they all failed.

Yes!

Hemp as a fiber crop has failed in every state and many countries. No amount of cheerleading will change that.

Delightful!

Kentucky farmers received subsidies to grow fiber hemp. They all lost money and nobody does it any more. The supposed advantages of hemp over trees are entirely fictional.

Interesting. I lived in equatorial forests for some years, and trees there have interesting habits as well.

Tom Kimmerer (@tomkimmerer) As you walk among trees, you may notice that we are at the time when leaves begin to look bedraggled, with wounds, pests and pathogens, pallid colors, overall an increasingly pathetic demeanor. There ...

Look at some tree leaves on your walks. They look terrible - blotched, wounded, discolored. Leaves cannot repair themselves and begin to deteriorate surprisingly early. Read more at Our Trees.

Given our increased rainfall, and generally improved growing conditions for trees, this is not going to ease off.

I’m sorry. I hope your day is better, maybe with a nap.

Delightful, Laurel, as always.

There are male, female, and bisexual trees. It is true that for some species, like ginkgo, cities try to plant male trees. It is also true that pollen can increase allergies. Phoenix planted large numbers of eastern ornamental trees in the 1960s, and they now have lots of pollen allergies.

Sex and the Persimmon What a single fruit can teach us about tree sex

Chanda, trees like to get laid too.

We were a couple for 20 years, during which we learned botany together, so there is some commonality in our work.

Thank you Charlotte. We have a lot of interesting stuff coming up - I'll send out a brief summary tonight.

Sex and the Persimmon What a single fruit can teach us about tree sex

Tree sex is complicated. Trees can't wander into each others bedroom, so they have developed sophisticated systems using surrogates, like animals. Here is an illustrative story about sex in a single persimmon tree.

Such a dramatic landscape, such a dramatic tree.

They are beautiful, not horrifying.

As much as I love mountain rivers, a flat river like this with its big ox-bows is irresistible.