trees

Every time I drive on Route 63 out to Oakfield, I always love seeing this tree off in the distance at the end of a farm field owned by MY-T Acres.

Driving back from Bergen this morning, I saw a beautiful clear blue sky and one of my favorite trees on Route 33, Stafford.

The crabapple trees in Alexander are once again in bloom. We wrote last year about the fascinating history of Alexander's crabapple trees.

Press release:

The City in conjunction with National Grid will be removing trees between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Mondays thru Fridays for the time period of February 29 through March 31.

This work involves the removal of 18 trees that have become unbalanced due to years of required trimming for utilities, thus becoming a liability and unsightly.

The area of work is Oak Street between the NYS Thruway Exit 48/ Park Road to NYS Rt 5/ West Main Street. Work shall begin north of Richmond Avenue and proceed south.

This work will require lane shifts, lane reductions and temporary stoppages. All efforts will be made to minimize impacts to traffic but there will be delays so please plan accordingly and avoid the area if possible. Work will occur as weather and other work assignments permit.

Future work plans will be the replanting of more appropriate underwire street trees and replacement rate of 2:1. This work is anticipated in the Fall of this year.

All of those trees that were trimmed by contractors for National Grid that have been called mangled and butchered will be removed, says City Manager Jason Molino.

They will be cut down, the stumps ground down to sawdust and new trees -- trees that won't grow as tall and cause problems with power lines -- will be planted in their place.

"I think we have a wonderful partnership with National Grid and how that's demonstrated is the fact that we've been able to work out an arrangement that we can partner with them to remove some of these trees," Molino said after Monday's City Council meeting.

Upton Monument

Redfield Parkway

Washington Avenue

Washington Avenue

Centennial Park

State Street

VA Center

Holland Land Office Museum

This fall, there have been a few big trees coming down on the Southside. Crews were on Jackson Street near Morton Avenue today taking down a pair of big trees.

Whenever I drive by it, I like the look of this tree out in a cornfield, east of Route 98, just before you get to Batavia Elba Townline Road. This evening, I stopped for a picture.

Three trees were removed by National Grid contractors today from Farrell Park as part of a project by the city this winter to take out 31 problem trees.

Two of the trees were diseased and the falling branches presented a hazard for children playing in the park. Another tree was a black walnut and the walnuts on the ground were a hazard for children, but also some youths were throwing them against the bathroom building and pavilion causing damage and trying to flush them down the toilets, causing damage.

The city intends to plant new trees, perhaps cherry or some other springtime flowering tree.

Passing down Gilhooly Road late this afternoon, I spotted these two trees on the side of a hill and thought they were pretty interesting.

Near the end of our visit to Picnic in the Park, I noticed a tree in the northeast corner of the park with this fungus of some sort growing on it. Rather interesting shape and texture.

Driving down West Main late this morning, I was struck by this stunning tree with its white flowers against the deep-blue sky.

Once again, I have no idea of the name of this type of tree.

I took several photos.

Yesterday, 5 p.m., the sky was beautiful, the sun was setting and I had just left the office on a photo hunting expedition when Billie called me and said a structure fire was reported on York Road.

Driving out to Le Roy then, I passed up what seemed like several potentially marvelous photos.

This morning, heading home from doing a follow-up story on York Road, the sky was a flat gray, so photo opportunities were scarce. 

I did like the view of this bare tree by the side of Linwood Road. The red car passing at the right time was a bonus.

After that, I found the free love seat available in front of Steve Upson's house on Bernd Road, Le Roy. I took the picture and left the seat, in case anybody else wants it.

At this point, most of the trees in our neck of the woods have lost their leaves. Some, though, retain their splendor, including one tree on the north side of Austin Park (Washington Avenue, across from the school district offices). It's a beautiful tree with a fascinating trunk. I took this picture late Saturday afternoon.

Here's a timely request from our correspondent and video producer Ethan Thompson:

Hello everyone! I'd like to put together a video slideshow featuring pictures of peoples' Christmas trees. So take out your digital camera, snap a picture of your Christmas tree, then email the picture to ethan at jptmedia dot com.

Please include your first and last name and what town you live in. I'll be taking submissions until Dec. 20. The video will be posted on The Batavian Dec. 24.

Billie and I stopped by Kutter's Cheese in Pembroke today, and while I waited in the car with our dog, I started looking at this old tree and decided to snap a few pictures. It wasn't until after I got home and opened this shot in PhotoShop that I notice what looks like the face of an angry old man in the knotted bark.  Can you see it?