Thursday 8 July 2021

BERRIES FOR BIRDS AND HAIKU

 There is a beautiful deciduous tree in the garden.  It was a delight to watch it put on its Spring underwear on the bare branches of winter. The leaves began darken and it had a lush and full coat of green. 

A few weeks later the branches were full of blackbirds and on closer inspection, it has produced small red berries.  The warm sun ripened them to a deeper shade.  There was a feeding frenzy.  I had no idea what type of tree it was.  As I have said in a previous post, my botanical knowledge is somewhat negligible!  A German friend told me it was Felsenbirne tree. This set me off on the usual Google search and I could not find an English translation so checked out the botanical name.  It is an AMELANCHIER of which there are numerous species. I then looked up the common name which was June Berry, Sugar Plum, Wild Plum and several other names. To me it looked much more like a berry than a plum.  I think I will stick with June Berry. What would we do without the internet??

I decided to do a quick line and wash sketch in my sketchbook as all that research deserved a painting as did the beautiful tree.  So here it is. I hope you enjoy both the Haiku and the drawing.




A tree full of birds

June Berry Tree Restaurant

Delicious juicy fruit