Maine woods, Part 1

I've been lucky enough to be on trips to opposite corners of this wonderful country already this year. And the trees which grace both of these areas are so marvelous in their diversity and lushness (especially compared to the usually parched region I'm in most of the time).

A few months ago I shared with you some fabulous trees of the Pacific Northwest, so now it's the Northeast's turn.

First up are some beauties from Bunganut Pond. My generous and knowledgeable hosts are into trees, too (not living in them, just liking them ), so we got into some good discussions about species identification and so on.

Red pines and white pines, birches and beeches, aspens and poplars, hemlock, spruce and fir...we hashed it all out. Of course, I probably won't remember enough of this new-found knowledge to be able label these photos correctly, but I'll give it a shot.

I can tell you that the lovely contrast in the photo above on the right is made by hemlock branches upstaging the white of a paper birch trunk.

Here's a close-up of another birch that was shedding some of that paper; easy to see how inventive and industrious folks could make canoes out of this, isn't it?

An the hemlocks were full of new growth, which, along with interesting bark, is one of my favorite things to snap when I'm around trees...

The shores of the pond are simply choked with green, as I saw on my brief kayak sojourn to a neighboring cove...

The pines might be the most spectacular residents of the area...

...but the deciduous trees put on quite a show at this time of year, and make me want to come back in the fall when they'll be decked out in their leaf-peeping finery...

I've always gotten birches and beeches mixed up before, mainly because I have trouble remembering which one Robert Frost wrote about. (It's birches; thanks, Google.) But mostly because I hardly ever get to see either one here in Texas. Here are both of them, side by side on the shores of Bungant Pond:

Of course, looking through leaves and branches at interesting stuff beyond is fun for the photographer, too. Here I found three generations of Amens ...

The sun setting on the other side of the pond, after a fun day of games, boating, swimming, and tree tourism, made those tall pines look even more amazing...

Trees, beautiful trees! Next up I'll probably go back to show you some more flowers, but don't worry, I have many more lovely and interesting trees to show you from other parts of Maine that I visited. Stay tuned!