Western Larch

    It seems like as soon as you make some rule about nature that you discover some exception to the rule.  I grew up thinking that there were two types of trees--deciduous (they lost their leaves in the winter) and conifers (“Evergreens” they had green needles and kept them throughout the winter).  When I started working for the BC Forest Service I became aware of the Western Larch--the exception to the rule.

    We didn’t really have Larches in our forest district, they grew farther south, but I seem to remember that our district did an experimental planting of larch on one of our logged out areas.  Somewhere down the line, I ended up with a young larch tree that I planted in our yard, and it hasn’t had any trouble growing in our area.

    Larch is a conifer and grows green needles in the spring and summer.  In the fall all of the needles turn a golden color and then drop off, like deciduous trees.  The tree endures the winter with bare naked branches and in the spring it grows new needles.

You can view my paintings:  davidmarchant.ca