Posts Tagged: canadian hemlock
Dead Hemlocks – Smoke Hole Canyon
Killed by the adelgid. 100-400mm Sony GM, Sony a7R3, Lr 6, Ps CS6.
Heart’s Content
Another image from my visit to the Allegheny National Forest.
Sigma DP3 Merrill, Sigma Photo Pro, Ps CS6.
Heart’s Content
A couple of massive hemlocks in one of the few areas in the East that were spared the lumbermens’ axe. It is hard to convey in a single image just how massive these things are. The trunks at the ground are impressive enough (the ferns are probably knee high on me) but when you look up and they continue straight up into the clouds you know you are in the presence of life that was probably in existence when Columbus first sailed into the Caribbean. Much of the East was like this at one time. This is the appropriately named Heart’s Content area in the Allegheny National Forest in northwestern Pennsylvania. The area has a lot of virgin hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), but it also has white pine (Pinus strobus), yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis), and sugar maple (Acer saccharum) – all virgin growth and all massive. I have seen only one other hemlock in my life that rivals these in size, and it unfortunately is now gone.
I will be posting more images from Heart’s Content over time.
Sigma DP3 Merrill, Sigma Photo Pro 5, Ps CS6.
Canaan Mountain Bog
Canadian hemlock, Tsuga canadensis, have a hard time unprotected at this altitude. I think it is the wind more than anything else that damages them so here. But this is a bog and they must withstand constantly wet (or frozen) feet. Mostly plants seem to be growing in the peat layer, which is perhaps 12 inches thick. Beneath that is a layer of water, then rock.
There is a little of everything in the foreground, from the left and skipping duplicates: Ilex mucronata (nemopanthus – mountain holly), Rhododendron maximum, Spagnum sp. (often red), Vaccinium sp. (blueberry), Osmunda cinnamomeum (cinnamon fern), Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel – in bloom), Picea rubens (red spruce). Yes, all native!
28-90mm Leica Vario-Elmarit, Nikon 800e, Lr4, Ps CS6.