This Beechnut tree is my pride and joy. During the summertime it provides dense shade, as we relax around the pool, sipping cool drinks (or maybe sometimes guzzling, hee hee). It can be the hottest of summer days, and still, beneath the canopy of this tree, the air remains cool.
It is host to many insects, good and not so bad, and birds -- we always have several Robins that have their little homes deep in the branches and twigs, you can see them coming and going. The white fly also loves this tree, high above, and this promotes the breeding of ladybugs. Their larvae that scramble around the limbs (and also on the benches below), eat more than 50 times more than the adult ladybeetle, and they love the whitefly I am sure. If you have not ever seen the larvae of the ladybug, it is not even close to what the adult looks, it looks kind of like a black and orange alligator, so weird and so cute.
Just a pretty picture. These leaves are really neat to clean up in the fall, they are slipppery and flat and rake up beautifully.
I wonder if my young Nephew, Dallan, will make more pretty pictures in the leaves this year, maybe he needs a little nudge from his Auntie. He is one of the more sensitive of my Nephews, and will make a wonderful Husband one day, he will ensure his wife has all the love that a man can give, and know how to show her his appreciation of her -- he will be the dude picking the wildflowers along the roadside (and maybe even raiding a garden or two at night to bring her a rose). Have a wonderful and beautiful day in this great life. Cindi
