Pine Cones Are Dropping

Longleaf Pine Cone, 8 x 8 " oil on Raymar Panel, ©2015, Fay Terry

Picking up these large pine cones is a daily job in our yard this time of year. Most of these that are on the ground are eight to ten inches tall. I line them up on the porch sometimes to decide which ones I want to paint. I once told someone I loved painting pine cones and they asked me what color I spray painted them. Yes, some folks here do box up pine cones, plain or painted, and sell them online. I have brought them to some of my cousins in New England because they love the large pine cones in a basket beside the fireplace. Actually, they make good fire starters and we sometimes burn a few in the fireplace in the back yard. 

I just like them for the challenge they present, drawing and choosing the colors are like putting a puzzle together and it's fun to see the final result. They all have slightly varying shapes and stand up at different  angles. 

Pine History

Conifer Cone, 6 x 6 " oil on gessobord panel, ©2014, Fay Terry

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 Pine trees have been important to the economy of our state for about two hundred years.  Much of NC's past was shaped by the longleaf pine. Cattlemen, turpentine producers, loggers, and even health resorts ( which is why Bostonian James Walker Tufts founded Pinehurst ) were born within and thrived under the longleaf pine. Its historic importance is recognized through the State Toast and the official State Tree.

What I find most amazing is the fact that of the estimated 1630 plants found in the southeast, more than half of them are found only in the longleaf ecosystem. This astonishing biodiversity is second only to a tropical rainforest.

I have always found trees fascinating because my dad graduated from the University Of Georgia in 1936 with a degree in Forestry and immediately got a job in Africa managing rubber tree plantations for Firestone. He knew and loved every species of tree and though I don't have his knowledge, I do love trees of all kinds.

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