tree circles

I lived in California for awhile, and learned something about the great Redwood trees and Sequoia. These are truly giant trees, of a magnificence hard to imagine. They are life forms so much bigger than us humans, that the energy of their stillness can bring us to a mystic halt. I learned that they multiply as many trees do, via seeds and fallen limbs, but that they also multiply beneath the ground. You will see a very ancient tree with a ring of younger trees around it, propagated via the roots.

This got me to wondering about the trees of my childhood. On either side of our house stood clusters - circles, really - of very tall pines. I wonder if southern pine trees propagated in ways similar to the trees far west.

These days, yards are maintained using equipment such as lawn mowers. Tiny saplings that might once upon a time have grown into giants are often mown with the grasses, wildflowers, and new shrubbery every month - or even every week - so such phenomena might not be as evident today as fifty years ago.