Blog 13 - Blogging on Assignment #2

 “Trees of Life” - Choice 1

Throughout my life thus far, a tree that I have connected with are evergreens. While my current place of living does not allow for this interaction. Every time I go home, I am greeted by beautiful evergreens in my home town and even in my back yard. I have interacted with these kinds of trees since I was a small child because my father also loved them. He made a point to plant them in our backyard because he loved their appearance and for additional privacy; however, we already had some in our yard when we moved in because our home is located in a wooded area. I like to spend time outside admiring them when I am back at my home in Chicago, Illinois. 

Evergreens are beautiful in that they almost represent stability. They maintain their color year-round no matter the change of season. They are also symbolic for their appearance and use as Christmas decorations in the winter time. While they are pretty spikey to the touch they smell amazing. While there are different types of evergreen trees, they do all have very specific scents. I love the smell of an evergreen tree because it is so strong and unique, especially as someone who does not have a very strong sense of smell. That is why I always look for evergreen scents and candles when the holidays come around. In a way, their scent is also very symbolic of the holiday season for that reason. This obviously would not be an appropriate plant to taste so I have no input there.

The Latin or botanical name for evergreens is “sempervirens” but can vary depending on the type of evergreens species. “Sempervirens” is a term that means “always green” in Latin. This is in reference to the point I made already about the tree being green year round. The common name is evergreen while there are specific types of evergreens such as pines, spruces, etc. Like the name, the order of the tree also varies depending on what species of evergreens you are referring to. For the purposes of giving an example, a pine tree is a plant that belongs to the order called Pinales, the family called the Pinaceae family, and the genus called Pinus. An example of a specific pine species is the Pinus ponderosa or the ponderosa pine. 

Overall, this tree is one I plan to surround myself with for the rest of my life or at least when I settle down into a home. I cannot imagine living in a place without those kinds of trees flourishing around me. I think they bring me joy and comfort and I want to continue to experience that throughout my life as I move and plant roots of my own. 

I don’t think I would necessarily describe this tree as a part of my identity. However, I would classify it as something I would include in my list of strong likes and interests. Especially when it comes to the scent of the tree. Since this is a tree that is not local to where I live in LA, for the purposes of this assignment I worked with what I had. I attached a photo that I took of my best friend holding a pine cone with an evergreen in the background when we did a hike together in Big Bear this last July.