Trees and Quilts

This evening I was sitting in the family room looking out our windows at our back yard.  It's amazing to think that when we moved in to this house there was a field of weed beyond our property line that had once been part of a farm,  But our back yard was almost barren, top soil scraped off, no grass, only weed trees.  When David insisted on taking out the trees (except for one little slippery elm that died all on it's own), I was incredulous.  "You want to take out the only shade, the only living things in our yard?"  He pointed out that they weren't worth saving and that we did have a fine copse of oaks in our front yard (the builder did have some sense!).  At any rate, now after thirty odd years, the backyard is a symphony of green.  Trees, hedges, gardens, and grass all in more shade of green than I can describe.  Trees are a gift.  I challenge you to make a list of all the wonderful things trees provide, and I'll share mine tomorrow.

While I was admiring the trees and the colors, I thought about the different kinds of trees we saw in Charleston. Here is the live oak and unfortunately I didn't get all of this magnificent tree in the photo because I couldn't get far enough away from it as this one is in a walled garden.  The live oak is not only the tree that hosts Spanish moss and other fascinating lichens but also has branches that seem to be able to stretch out a city block without support.

The live oak is not only the tree that hosts Spanish moss and other fascinating lichens but also has branches that seem to be able to stretch out a city block without support.  The tree below is in the battery park, and you can get a sense of its sinuous branches reaching out to the houses across the street.

The other tree from South Carolina is, of course, the palmetto.  It is the state tree and not my particular favorite of the palm trees, but one certainly recognizes the south when one sees this tree.

This uninspiring photo was taken from the porch on the second floor of our lodgings on, appropriately enough, the Isle of Palms. 

"All right," you say, glancing up at the title of this entry, "but where do the quilts come in?" 

"Aha," I respond.  "Just look at the photo below.  What does it remind you of?" 

This is the second photo of that same palmetto tree. I wasn't interested in the tree (though I took its picture for reference); I loved its shadow!  In looked at it from that porch, I suddenly understood Hawaiian quilts.  If you live in a place where the sun is brightly shining almost everyday and is casting dramatic shadows all around you, you'd make stylized silhouette quilts, too!

Breadfruit Tree Pattern

           

                                            

And isn't that a neat discovery!