Young Eastern Red Cedar

Here is a young E. Red Cedar growing in the grass. It doesn't have much of a chance to grow because it is located in a field that is mowed every year. It grows every year but is mowed down in the fall. So this is the life it will live.

Our life can be like the Cedar tree. What we try to do is cut down often. Unlike the tree, we have the ability to change where we grow.

Don't just do the same thing over and over. Make a change in your life that needs to be made. Start again with a new beginning. Let Jesus do a new thing in your life to bring vitality.

Here is the field where I found this small tree.

E. Red Cedar Growth

Photo taken 11/29/13

Here is the Eastern Red Cedar I measured in November 2013.
Height 48' Circumference 95.25" Canopy 40 & 45 Total Points 154

Here are the 2017 measurements 4 years later. 10/28/17
Height 53' Circumference 99 1/8" Canopy 47' 48' Total Points 164 a 6% increase in points in 4 years.

I shot the photo from the opposite side of the tree. Height growth is noticeable. As we walk with Jesus through the years, stop and remember how God has led you and take note of where you were and where you are now.

E Red Cedar Contrast

Here are 2 Eastern Red Cedar trees that look from a distance to have a difference in the color of their foliage. Looking closely I see that one has seeds growing and the other doesn't. 

This is one of the amazing things of nature. Not so much the diversity of nature. Yes that is interesting. But finding out things of nature that are not readily seen until further investigation.

In the 2 books God has written, one being the Bible and the other nature, there is much to learn. We won't learn it if we don't investigate and seek answers.

Matthew 7:7 Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened unto you.

Eastern Red Cedar

Height                           40.5'       
Circumference              76.5
Branch Spread          30 & 35
Points                             125

One of things that interest me about this tree is the unsymmetrical shape of the branches. A lower branch will grow out more than normal if there are trees above it to restrict its normal growth.

The tree is much younger than the cemetery so there would not be competition from other trees in the cemetery.  One thing that could have happened is there may have been trees growing to the north, outside the cemetery. The area was not developed till the 1960's.

Our growth can be impeded by things or people that block God's light.  God's light comes to us as we believe. Don't let anything hinder you from believing what Jesus said.

John 8:12

"Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, 

“I am the Light of the world; 

he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, 

but will have the Light of life.”

E Red Cedar Color Variation.

Why does Eastern Red Cedar have different colors? The green in the tree is due to the chlorophyll. But why does the trees have different amounts of chlorophyll? The different colors absorb a different wave length of light. Maybe this causes the tree to be more adaptable. Each tree seems to be a little different.

In the winter the color has a lot of brown in it. This photo was taken in Jan 2015.

Psalm 62

"My soul waits in silence for God only;

From Him is my salvation.

2 He only is my rock and my salvation,

My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.

3 How long will you assail a man,

That you may murder him, all of you,

Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?

4 They have counseled only to thrust him down from his high position;

They delight in falsehood;

They bless with their mouth,

But inwardly they curse. Selah.

5 My soul, wait in silence for God only,

For my hope is from Him.

6 He only is my rock and my salvation,

My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.

7 On God my salvation and my glory rest;

The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.

8 Trust in Him at all times, O people;

Pour out your heart before Him;

God is a refuge for us. Selah.

9 Men of low degree are only vanity and men of rank are a lie;

In the balances they go up;

They are together lighter than breath.

10 Do not trust in oppression

And do not vainly hope in robbery;

If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.

11 Once God has spoken;

Twice I have heard this:

That power belongs to God;

12 And lovingkindness is Yours, O Lord,

For You recompense a man according to his work."

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

January Plants

Even the Eastern Red Cedar has a brown tint in January. 

Cedar Tree in Winter

 We measured this Eastern Red Cedar tree the 29th of Nov 2013

Height 48'
Circumference 95 1/4"
Canopy of 45' & 40'
 Total points = 151

The tree seems to have a flat top like many trees.  I don't expect this tree to gain much height. We'll see when we return at a later date. I do think it shows some beauty as it shades the grave yard.

Hike among E Red Cedar

Hiking in a field that is reverting back to forest there is gray dogwood and E red cedar. The area has a nice cedar smell, which gives an accepting feeling. Of course the preponderance of E red cedar means the ground leaves somthing to be desired. yet I enjoyed walking through this inviting fragrance. I thought of tying up my hammock and reading in these woods.

Then I came across an oak tree that I call a Turkey oak because of the thin shaped lobes on the leaves.

While I was looking for the Turkey oak I saw a Chinquipin oak that I rough meausured at 10' circumferance.

Eastern Red Cedar Fruit

As I was walking down the trail I realized I had measured this tree in the past, but it was not on my list of trees. I need to go back through my notes to find this tree. There seems to be an abundance of Eastern Red cedar fruit this year.

If I find the notes then I will know what month to look in to find an earlier photo. I probably came by here in the winter. It was not easy getting to this tree. I remember crawling on my hands and knees to measure it.

Only the top of the tree is in the photo. The photo quality is not the best probably because of the branches in the foreground.

The fruit is a berry like cone about 1/4 inch long blue with a white waxy coating.

Stand of Eastern Red Cedar

Here is a stand of Eastern Red cedar. They invade pasture land and grass land before other trees can get a start. They also will grow in areas where other trees find it hard to get a start. This is a flood plain of a creek.


Ephesians 4:31
"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice."

Eastern Red Cedar

Many disparage the Eastern red cedar Juniperus virginiana. I like it because it grows where many trees won't grow. In my neck of the woods, it adds color in the winter when all the other trees are in winter rest.

The tree is a widely distributed tree, meaning it can withstand a wide variation of climate conditions. It may be found on abandoned fields, dry exposed sites. It is a good tree to reclaim strip mine areas and shelter belts in the plains.

Many of the seeds are eaten by birds and those digested seeds may germinate afterwards.


Eastern red cedar has a low capacity for water loss, which helps it adapt to dry environments.

It provides important nesting sites for many birds.



Close up of the foliage.


Bark



Here is a photo showing how it will occupy a rocky cut bank area along a road.



These last 3 photos show the different colors that the tree will have in the winter.






2 Samuel 5:11
"Then Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David with cedar trees and carpenters and stonemasons; and they built a house for David."

Iced Red Cedar

May each of you have a blessed and Merry Christmas.

Mathew 1:23 "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US."

Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel."

Isaiah 9:6,7 "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."

"There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this."

First snow of the 07-08 Season

I took a little time at lunch to get these close ups of Eastern Red Cedar.


Psalm 147:16
"He gives snow like wool;
He scatters the frost like ashes."

Log of my hike Sunday 4-Feb-07

Snow makes the ground look matted moulted. The trail is mainly marked by dogs also sign of deer and turkey. Watching the squirrels going from branch to branch leaping to the next branch.

The rustling of the shingle oak leaves in the wind. The crunch in of my boots on the snow the pitter patter of my dog scampering back and forth in the woods.

A wave of wind rustles the shingle oak leaves then it dies down then it rustles the leaves again and then it dies down.

A stand of rough leaf dogwood 1” in dia. With the mixture of E red cedar. White snow covering the ground white and blue sky.

Gray liken growing on the bowl of a 7” E red cedar.

Gnarled black cherry with the bole splits in two about 3' feet off the ground.

To my right the ground falls into a draw to the left continuing rough leaf dogwood and a scattering of E red cedar.

As I walk the sun is breaking through a layer of clouds the opening snow fades away into grass it has melted off.

The trail I was on now connects with the main trail and I am now on that trail heading W.

The main trail again is then covered in snow and I take the side trial off to the right which is on the other side of the draw which I mentioned before where the black cherry was.

I am now coming across some rabbit tracks. To the NW I look to the sky which is blue with a spattering of high clouds.

I cut off the side trail into the woods which rolls north. Ground is mostly covered in snow the snow covers the fallen trees. It is a round ridge as I walk to the draws. I don't see any sigh of human activity there are no human foot prints.

I lean up against a hop hornbeam which is next to a large fallen tree it is a hard to say what kind of tree it was all the bark has fallen off, white oak is to the East and a large bur oak is to the west near the creek.

In this area there is a ½ to 1 inch of soft snow and under it there is 1 to 2 inches of crusted snow.

We now have come up to a place has come where the squirrels have dug into the snow looking for nuts. I have no idea how the squirrels know where to dig but my dog has a lot of fun checking them out.

As I come to the end of the ridge down at the creek there is a root wad stuck into the air, dirt is still stuck in the root wad the tree has been down for a long time. The tree has fallen into the creek and branches are broken off on the other side of the creek. What bark is left is covered by conk type growth. The creek is frozen but I can see water running under the ice.

4:39 PM looking back south the sun is still up in the air a ways so there will be more sunlight for a time now. The sun is shinning through the 1000 s of branches most of the trees are 3” or less. Looking up at the canopy there is room for trees to occupy. Most of the trees are small a few large. The little trees have not taken off to occupy the open canopy.

Instead of going back the way I came I decided to parallel the creek gong along the edge and I will turn up to the top of the ridge when I get to the other side.

My dog runs out on the ice of the creek by a 2 foot waterfall she tries to stop but just slides in the ice. But being on all fours is no problem for her. When she does stop she runs back to me.

Heading back up there are a lot of small gullies criss crossing the ground. The way I negotiate these is by grabbing a sapling or vine hold on as I jump over them. But I check to make sure they aren't dead before I apply weight.

My dog is really getting excited now running up the side of the hill and back to me. She loves to hike in the woods with me.

There is no E red cedars growing on the side of the hill they grow up on top.

I come to the trail where there is a set of foot prints and I stamp my foot next to it and compare footprints the treads match so its mine. And now I am following my trial back.

As I hike along that trail I come to the realization that my foot prints have stopped so I back track to where my foot prints end and I cut into the woods.

Now I come to the root wad where I first wanted to take a photo and I figured I could find my foot prints again and continue following my way out.

I pass a white oak which is leaning about 30 degrees. The whole tree is leaning and the bowl of the tree is not carrying any of the weight of the tree. I will measure the dia with my hand and I come up with 30 to 32 inch dia tree.

I see 2 turkeys fly into some trees it is 5:00 now so it must be time to bed down in the tree.

Flowing the main trial the south facing slope is clear of snow and the north facing slope has a lot of turkey tracks in the snow where the turkey went into the trees.

Snow

If you click to enlarge the photo you can see some ice crystals

Took a break from snow plowing. The whining of the hydraulic motor. The scraping of the blade on asphalt. The squawk of the work radio. Music or chatter from the regular radio.

As I walked in the woods I stopped and listened to the silence. As I listened I could hear the snow hitting the dead winter leaves and tree branches.

Many times the business of life keeps us from listening to God. It is good to get away and be still and hear what God has for us. It will refresh you.

KC Willd Lands Christmas Tree Sale

Shawnee Mission Park was where people went to pick out a Eastern red cedar tree. There were many to choose from. The event was held in December of 2006 and was a fund raiser for KC Wildlands.

Some trees were already cut.




Here was the hot cider station.



The hot cider station.


A lot of people wanted to walk back in the woods and cut their own.

Bottom Land Trees

In the top picture I am in the Missouri river bottoms. The tree on the left is a Box elder maple. It is easy to ID by the green twigs. The 2 trees in the middle are Eastern Red Cedars. And the tree on the right is a Silver maple. There is a layer of sand on top of the dirt. I don;'t know when the sand was deposited there but it may have been the flood of 93.




The bottom photo is showing a pure stand of Eastern cottonwood. In the summer you can't see far in these woods.

Water Caught by Eastern Red Cedar

Click on this photo to see a larger version.


It is interesting to see water held in trees after a rain. There are creeks where I live that overflow their banks because of housing development. Years ago, when the land was covered by forest, the creek carried much less water.

Eastern Red Ceader, Saplings

Eastern Red Cedar as young saplings.

Glades

A natural piece of land in the middle of a forest that has few or no trees. This would happen mainly due to rocks with little soil for tree growth. Hence a glade instead of a forest. Because of the lack of soil the glade holds little water for plant growth. Hence the desert types of plants that grow there.

Eastern Red cedars will grow in this area. The tree cover will allow water to be caught and this changes plant adaptation to the area.

To restore a glade the cedars need to be cut and allowed to dry for at least 1 year. Then a prescribed burn is done to rid the ground of invading plants that are not adaptive to a glade environment. The fire also prepares the ground for glade type plants to grow.

I know of a glade type area in Hodge park. Looking through the photos to find a picture of it I was not successful. So I thought I would go back out there and find it and take a photo. It is not large enough to be classified as a glade.

Some of this information was found from this article.
Glade