Morus rubra
Oct. 6th, 2005 07:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vaneramos
University of Guelph Arboretum
A University of Guelph website says, "red mulberry is likely the most endangered tree species in Canada." I didn't realize it when I sat in one's shade the other day behind Vienna Home Bakery in Toronto, but I was still impressed. The only place I had ever seen one that big was on my own front lawn. Two originally stood between our house and Lake Erie. Lightning destroyed one when I was five.
Mulberries are the preferred food of silkworms. Our surviving tree attracted cecropia moths, which made cocoons the size of small potatoes. The thick, strong trunk was perfect for climbing. Kids and cats loved to play in the branches, and Grey Shadow took her afternoon naps on my brother's tree fort. Birds loved the tree for its bounteous, insipid berries, which turned the patio and soles of our feet purple.
The second tree was struck and killed by lightning in 1986. No mature mulberries remain in the neighbourhood.
The mulberry's leaves stayed green until first hard frost, usually early November, then all dropped at once. It was not like maples or birches, which have changed colour and started dropping regardless of the fact that summer weather has continued.
An Eramosa woods
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-08 02:12 pm (UTC)Sunday, October 9, 2005, at 11:45am (EDT)at
Daybreak? Sunrise?
I don't know the name, but apparently there is an excellent breakfast place right on the south east corner of Carlton and Church. I haven't been there myself, but my peeps tell me it's good.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-08 02:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-09 05:50 pm (UTC)I grew up with Mulberry trees on our property. There is something special about them, and I loved the messy berries that left so many stains.
lovemunkey
no subject
Date: 2005-10-09 08:48 pm (UTC)Love,
Van