Another tour of birches

Not having a good day? Need something to pick you up? How about a walk through Hardwood Hermitage to see some splendid birches? If you can't make it here that easily, we can bring some of our birches to you through the magic of technology.  Behold the peeling white and yellow beauties of various sizes and shapes!

A neat feature of late afternoon and early evening walks on a sunny day is the sharp contrasts between brightness and shadow possible on the same tree.  This is the property's largest paper birch, near the spring in the jut, showing the bright/dark contrast on Sunday.

Some other trees farther west were showing the same shadowing tendencies yesterday

Then there's the bliss of seeing small and gigantic trees within just a few minutes of walking.  First are two baby paper birches along the west walking trail near the house.  They are followed by a truly massive, very old, triple-trunked yellow birch.

Even with so many birch-heavy walks, the debate continues:  which of the two species is more beautiful? There's just something about yellow birch that edges out its cousin, the state tree of NH.  This yellow birch is one of the greatest trees on the whole parcel.