Friday, August 3, 2012

Colorado Aspen

Colorado Aspen
11" x 14"  Oil
$245.00 + $10. s/h

I love the color of the leaves of the Aspen tree in the summer.  It's a beautiful warm green.  In the fall the Aspen leaves turn a spectacular yellow/orange/green.
Aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers ie: high altitudes.  Aspens grow in large colonies derived from a single seedling, and spread by means of root suckers.  New stems in the colony can appear at up to 90 to 100 feet from the parent tree.  So, when you see a grove of Aspen, they are all connected by the same root system.  I heard that once on Jeopardy, and knew the answer.  Actually, I heard the answer and knew the question.
Each tree can live for 40 - 150 years above ground, but the root system of the colony lives much longer.  In some cases for thousands of years.  There is a colony in Utah estimated to be 80,000 years old (I found that out in Wikepedia.)

7 comments:

Debbi Smith Rourke said...

Beautiful. You can tell they are living in cool air - sure wish I could breathe some now. Your posts are not only lovely to look at, I usually learn something, too! :-)

Autumn Leaves said...

Aspens are such lovely trees indeed. And I love learning new things as I knew none of these about the trees or their root systems. Love the little wildflower touches in the foreground too, Pam.

hmuxo said...

A very interesting post, Pam. Beautiful painting!!!

Claire Beadon Carnell said...

Wonderful painting, and I enjoyed learning how aspens propogate Pam!

Pam Holnback said...

Thank you Debbi. We, too, are having a much too hot summer. I think that Mother Nature is going through menopause w. all of the strange weather through out the world!

Sherry, Thank you. Those simple foreground colors add a lot to paintings.

Thanks so much Hilda. I love to share info about topics.

Claire, Thank you. I learned that years ago and also thought it was so interesting!

Nancy B. Hartley said...

Fascinating post, and beautiful painting! Just love it!

Douglas Clark said...

Beautiful colors on this landscape.