Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2007/January 2008 | Page 58

life

COUNTRYSIDE, WILDLIFE & FARMING

Photo top: Pastel yellow leaves of the Sycamore
(Acer pseudoplatanus) Below: Bright orange
berries of the stinking iris (Iris foetidissima)

The young branches of
silver birch look a deep red
against the pale branches
of ash trees. Many garden
cultivars are grown for their
winter stems. Coloured
dogwoods come in reds,
yellows, oranges even blacks
as do willows, with the Betula
jacquemontii ‘Doorenbos’
and ‘Snow Queen’, radiant
in their white peeling bark.

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As if to complement the
fiery colours of winter, old
man’s beard acts like the
smoke, reaching as far to
the sky as its scaffolding
of branches will take it.
What ever the time of year
there is always something
in the countryside to see
and watch, seasons change
and so do the colours…

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