Ice! Ice! Ice! It's beautiful in here, in my post -- with ice all over the Douglas-Fir trees! But there's a cost to some trees, too.
Here's the first post on the Great Willamette Valley Ice Storm of 2016. I've already shown the effect of the ice on my Sequoia and Larch Trees, Blue Spruce and Western Redcedar Trees, and Noble Fir, Grand Fir, and Eastern White Pine Trees. I'll be showing how the ice affected other trees in future photosets, too, including River Birch, Ponderosa Pine, fruit trees, and more.
Douglas-Fir
The Douglas-fir tree (Pseudotsuga menziesii) is the emblem of the Pacific Northwest. It is the dominant tree west of the Cascade Mountains in Washington, Oregon, northern California, and southern British Columbia. It occurs in all kinds of environments, from the coastal lowlands to high elevations, and in all kinds of soils, slopes, and forest types. It's the primary timber tree of the Pacific Northwest. They can be giant trees, too -- many over 200 feet tall -- only the Coastal Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) are taller.
The Douglas-fir trees in my yard are far from that big! They came through this giant ice storm in great shape -- with one exception, as you will see. I think the ice was especially beautiful on the branches of the Douglas-fir. I hope you like these 11 pictures of the temporary beauty of ice from freezing rain.
The poor tree in the last image, really took the heat. It almost bent completely doubled over. But it did only bend - not break. Since the ice melted, the tree has straightened up, but still isn't completely right. The main stem may have sustained more damage than it can recover from. But the damage won't become really apparent until summer.
In those last two images, I used bracketed images with High Dynamic Range (HDR) processing. Do you think it makes any difference? Do you like them any better than the others?
How Is Your Winter Going?
Have you had much ice or snow this winter? How have your trees handled the weather this winter?
Other posts in this Ice Storm Series:
- The Great Willamette Valley Ice Storm of 2016
- Sequoia and Larch Trees
- Blue Spruce and Western Redcedar Trees
- Noble Fir, Grand Fir, and Eastern White Pine Trees
Follow me to see more ice storm photosets, including how the ice affected my River Birch, Ponderosa Pine, fruit trees, and more.
Haphazard Homestead
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*** foraging, gardening, nature, simple living close to the land ***