holt_430_0887.CR2Members of the Learning Center saw a new article today, Winter Trees, a day of enchantment in the East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Berkeley, a garden dedicated to California native plants.  I created a new print for the Store, inspired by the bare branches, mingling.

Winter shows the bones of a garden, and the bones of deciduous trees and shrubs.  The naked branches can be graceful and wild, forming complex patterns and revealing garden vistas unseen in other seasons.

Wildcat Creek runs through the middle of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, and various sections devoted to different floristic regions flank the hills on either side.  In winter, when the trees are bare, a visitor can easily see from the Sierras to Southern California.

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In this photo we see a Sierran Juniper on the far left, the beautiful crown of a mystery tree (see below for answer), the bright white bark of Quaking Aspen, and off in “Southern California” a California Fan Palm.

See more winter trees and tips on photographing them in the article.  Membership is free.

When I saw this vista, I thought the big tree was a small grove of Alders.  But when I walked up to, it I realized it was one tree and much too big for alders.  It is a Black Oak (Quercus kelloggii).  The alder in the print is Alnus tenuifolia – Mountain Alder, a shrub really.