by roots
We are renovating a section of our garden next to the new wall/fence put up by the builders of the new home next door. With much sweat and brawn, husband dug up several stumps of trees that were cut down years ago but hidden under our laurel hedge which had just been removed by the workers next door.
I became interested in the photographic possibilties in the textures and shapes of the disintegrating wood and the roots. I’m glad I missed seeing the termites which quickly buried themselves deeper into the rotting wood as they emerged into daylight. I did see our resident crows investigating them with keen interest but unfortunately too late for a tasty meal.
Added Sunday, June 24th:
Today, as I was cutting up a dead shrub which had not survived a move last fall, I was struck by its gorgeous root formation. Then I recalled the beautiful filigrees of blood vessels and nerves in bodies, as I wrote some years ago about an exhibition called Body Worlds. Isn’t that an amazing similarity between humans and plants?! (Sorry, no photo as I was too busy to come in for the camera.)
June 22, 2012 in Nature, Photoworks by Marja-Leena
I don’t like the thought of termites! But then I’m a squeamish north European, we get a bit funny about sharing the world anything creepy, crawly, slithery, stingy, bloodsucking, house-eating or whatever. Though we did hear that termites had got as far as south Brittany. Will you burn the stumps eventually? Things that have been buried like that are particularly fascinating I think.
Lucy, aye, aye! We live in a rainforest where termite and carpenter ants are much too common. We had to replace parts of some wooden outdoor stairs, thanks to termites for instance. Disposing is a problem for burning is not allowed, large stumps are not picked up at the curb for greens composting, nor personally delivered to the station, so I hope the ‘dump’ takes them. We missed an opportunity to toss them into the huge bin used by the contractors next door and don’t want to wait for the next time one comes. No wonder some folks just dump the stuff in park or highway side gullies. Living in the country as you do, you are probably allowed to burn?
If you have some space in your yard I wonder if these roots might not allow you to practice a little hugelkultur? I happened across the the idea some weeks ago but since I have no garden all I could do was remember it as a fine idea.
Roots really are fascinating to look at, aren’t they? Your pictures are so detailed it’s easy to think of them as tree brains. Still, I’m glad the termites had gone by the time you arrived with camera in hand.
Susan, ‘hugelkultur’ is a new term for me, though in a small way that was what we had done when we’d buried these stumps, though undisturbed, and planted over with laurel. I’d love to try real hugelkultur if we had much more land but here our garden is mature and full, and besides I want to get rid of those termites! ‘Tree brains’ – that’s what I thought of too.
Ack, that’s an impressive amount of labor! I can hardly think of the interesting images because when we moved here we grubbed up a lot of old yews that had been planted along the front of the house as if it were a suburban house and not an 1808 house in dire need of a cottage garden. Whew, it was awful!
Marly, yes, it was a lot of work, though they came out easier than expected, unlike a very stubborn maple trunk that is still in place in the back yard. How long have you lived in your wonderfully historic house? Surely the yews weren’t that old?
Am I missing out somewhere? This is the third time (admittedly over three years or so) I have had to re-register to send you a comment – a different process each time as far as I can remember. Should I be going in for all this security? If not, what risks am I taking?
Er, herm (Clears throat). I hesitate to advise on artistic matters (Oh, what the heck, I’ve never hesitated before) but I’m sure I’ve seen roots like yours turned into artistic objects elsewhere. But in making them more ganglia-like I think there was a further stage in the preparation: removal of dirt with a high-pressure water hose. As a result the final object becomes even more three-dimensional with all sorts of extra sinister cavities. As I recall such things can sell for big bucks. Perhaps I’m being too crass. I usually am.
The thirteenth year… No, they were planted by owners who had the idea that one plants a string of bushes along a foundation, though that wasn’t the least bit appropriate for the house. So they were not a bit rotten, though the roots were huge, and they did not want to give up on life at all! And who can blame them?
LdP – congratulations on successfully registering! I think I’ve lost a lot of friends who have had trouble with it. I don’t like having it but the spam got really bad, in fact, it nearly shut down my daughter’s blog on the same server because of excessive bandwiddth use. Quite some years ago we tried one of those captcha kind of things for a little while but this is the first time there is registration.
I know you tease. Small and interesting root pieces and other plant material have been occasionally scanned and large ones photographed and put on these pages. I’ve yet to start powerwashing, drying and making them into tables or decorative objects, it doesn’t interest me… but some of them are quite lovely in the shops. I did once buy some baskets made from kelp roots.
Marly, thirteen years isn’t long. The trees must have been quite quite old and very healthy to be so well established, and certainly not good next to the house foundation. With the demolition next door in preparation for building, it was fascinating to see the excavator just pull out trees, and later our laurel, as if they were mere weeds. Should have had it pull out the roots of these trees too but we were too late noticing them.
I bet you have a lovely cottage garden now, especially with a gardener mother to share advice and some plants too.