When I was a young man (9th grade) falling in love with nature and in particular with trees, I was struck by a passage in The Hobbit. Bilbo Baggins was walking through a forest and he observed: “Never before have I become so suddenly and so keenly aware of a tree’s skin, neither as a forester nor as a carpenter but in the delight of the living tree itself”. My love affair with trees has grown deeper every year.
Winter is the best time to select a specimen tree for your garden as you get the opportunity to see the naked tree in its true form.
These photographs with extended captions were all taken locally as I make my way through each day noting and observing the beautiful, often architectural shapes and forms created by nature.
Robert Trachtenberg is a landscape designer who lives in Berkeley.
