Stories of Ash

The Ash tree has followed in the footsteps of man since prehistoric times. Foraging, medicinal, tool handles, bow wood, it was said to have the power to protect from snakes.

An everyday tree

Ash trees can be found along meadows, along roadsides, mixed with oak trees in forests, on fresh and deep fertile soils. Common everywhere in France, except the Mediterranean region, they have been part of people's daily lives for a long time. Of the Oleaceae family, three species of Ash are found in Europe, including the high Ash, Fraxinus excelsior. A popular tree with many uses, it can exceed 35 meters in height, straight, slender, flexible, young among its own kind, hardly exceeding two hundred years.

Ash recipes

The ash tree, renowned in the past, is back in fashion. A sparkling drink to be consumed fresh, it is concocted from infused leaves. Sugar and yeast are added, after a time of fermentation in carboys the juice obtained is preserved in pressure bottles.

The "bird's tongues", fruits or samaras of the ash trees, are prepared, still green, as condiments after being boiled and put in brine or vinegar.

From the memory of the breeder, the Ash foliage was used to feed the animals, in vegetation but also dried as a complement to the winter fodder. The characteristic silhouettes of pruned and re-pruned ash trees, known as trognes or pollards, still stand in hedges and forests.

Medicinal properties, the tree of centenarians

The Ash is reputed to act against joint pain and is used in the composition of "centenarian" teas. The leaves in infusion, the fruits rather in decoction, are indeed antirheumatic, antigouty, but also diuretic, tonic, laxative, sudorific.

The bark, renowned for its febrifuge properties, was worth naming the Ash the Quinquina of Europe. It is also cited for its astringent, tonic and expectorant properties. The juice extracted from the leaves would be an interesting antivenom to study.

Uses of Ash

Although Ash wood is moderately hard, it is very supple and elastic, strong and resistant to bending and shocks. It is particularly suitable for making handles, shovels, picks, etc. Its qualities allow it to be used in veneers, in carpentry, but also for oars, rifle butts, clogs, bending wood... The burls and roots are appreciated in cabinet making, it also turns very well. And if it is not worked, it becomes firewood or coal, of quality. And among its many qualities, we can add its dyeing use, the bark of the branches gives a beautiful greenish color.

Some stories...

If its branches were used as a magic wand, the Ash would have had the power to keep away snakes, which feared its shadow, its leaves on the ground. Legend that deserves to be studied...

It is also found in the tales and legends of trees, its powerful roots, its solid foundation, its top slung towards the sky have earned it the right to be assimilated to Yggdrasil, the mythical world tree, more often corresponding to the Yew or the Oak.

Today's Ash in its relationship with man can find a new place in parks and gardens, as much for its uses as for its ornamental qualities.

Chickweed, botanical description

The area of the black ash tree

The common nannyberry is very present in Lorraine and Alsace. It is found scattered in the oak forests or oak-beech forests of the Lorraine plateau, as well as in the beech forests of the limestone plateaus. It is rarer in the hills under the Vosges.

Portrait of the mountain ash

Chestnut tree is a precious wood species that can live for several centuries.

Despite its slow growth, it can climb to 15 or even 17 meters high. It colonizes the land in small groups.

Its foliage is quite dense and its white flowers appear in May. They have male and female organs and are pollinated by insects.

Enemies of the mountain ash

Chestnut is susceptible to 'fire blight', an infectious disease found in many trees of the Rosaceae family, to which it belongs.

Symptoms of the disease: the tips of the branches take on a burnt appearance.

The other enemy of the torminal tree is the torse fiber, a genetic defect that depreciates its wood, which is then said to be screwed.

The qualities of the wood of the black cherry tree

The wood of the black ash is generally reddish, more or less dark, with a fine grain, a density and an appreciable heaviness.

It is also a stable wood, which works well. It is used in particular to manufacture precision instruments and mechanical parts. Thus, it is used in violin making and marquetry.

Planting advice

The black locust is a species of plain and hillside that supports low temperatures and resists well to spring frosts. It also tolerates summer droughts and warm exposures.

It is a light tree that appreciates open exposures. However, a light shade, not very sustained, improves its form.

If it remains in a coppice for several years, it will eventually lack vigor and, without clearance, it will wither.

It likes to grow in soils that receive a regular supply of water, but it can be satisfied with drier environments.

Alder, the guardian of open water

The Alder has followed man along the rivers for thousands of years. Medicinal tree, fertilizer of wetlands, wood with multiple uses, it is also the guardian, often beneficial, sometimes worrying, of open waters.

The tree of water

The Alder, Aulne, Verne, Vergne, erects its trunks with dark bark, anchors its roots on the banks of rivers, streams, ponds. Water is its element. Alongside the Willow and the Poplar, it settles, often alone or in small groups, the forests of yesteryear rarely exist anymore. For a long time, it has lived alongside the beaver, and knows how to reject the stump at each cut. But even its vigorous rejections will not guarantee it a long life, 100 years at most. This cousin of the birch will be adorned all winter with small dark cones, to be picked for Christmas decorations, with a few pieces of bark to fight against fever...

Medicinal properties

Forgotten, the medicinal properties of the Alder were once recognized. The leaves are to be collected at the end of spring, they can be dried or used fresh. In internal use they would be sudorific, diuretic and vermifuge. The external use is recommended for the feet of the walkers, deposited fresh in the shoes they would have soothing virtues. They are also quoted as antigalactogenic, allowing to decrease and to dry up the rises of milk. Wrapping fresh leaves under a thick quilt would alleviate any rheumatism.

The properties of the bark should not be minimized, harvested at the end of winter, just before the rise of sap, it is used for its astringent, tonic, relaxing and febrifuge virtues.

Agricultural uses

The networked roots of the Alder provide an effective fixation of the banks, avoiding the disappearance of agricultural plots, washed away at each flood. Foresters and farmers also use it to enrich the land with nitrogen. Used to difficult soils, the Alder has developed a root symbiosis with a nitrogen-fixing bacterium, just like legumes. Its cultivation thus makes it possible to prepare future exploitable plots.

A valued wood

Reddish when cut, Alder wood lightens up when dried. Homogeneous, light and soft, it is used for sculpture, and is sought after by turners. It is easily stained black, and thus resembles ebony. Clogs, but also fiber panels, containers and kitchen cutlery, its uses are multiple, up to its long stems perfect for ladders. Outside, exposed alternately to dryness and humidity, it rots very quickly. But at constant humidity or immersed, it is rot-proof, and was used as a drain (faggots), gutters, and especially pilings, the major foundation of the houses of Venice.

Various uses

In fire, Alder emits a lively heat giving off very little smoke, a property sought after by bakers and glassmakers. The dyeing properties of its bark, black tint, is still used for felt and hats. The tanning of skins in the Nordic countries uses its high concentration of tannins.

Its branches would have a certain attraction for many insects and mites, the leaves deposited on the ground serve as a refuge for fleas, ticks, various parasites. It is enough after a few hours to collect the whole and to burn, the places are clean.

Some stories

The rivers share their legends with the Aulne, the tree that guards the banks. Like the waters, it carries secrets and spells, beneficial or evil depending on the region. It is said to be the "witches' tree", its charcoal was used to draw magic circles, its branches to make fairy wands. Does its red color when felled come from blood tears? The druids would have passed there, it is said that they read the future in the smoke of the barks...

Familiar to man and riverbanks, but forgotten in the landscape, the Aulne is a tree to be rediscovered. For its properties, its stories, but also its place in the wet ecosystems, a real refuge for a varied fauna, from the tip of the leaves to the multiple nooks and crannies of its roots plunging into the water.

Beech, a tree of elegant nobility

The beech forest has accompanied man for thousands of years. Its names, fau, fayard, fouteau, fouillard, resound in the shade of many localities. Let's discover this elegantly noble tree.

A tree of the shade

The common beech, Fagus sylvatica, appreciates the humidity and coolness of the mountains, the northern or sub-Atlantic regions, the shade of its fellow trees... Present in many French forests, it sometimes imposes itself in exclusive beech forests, or associates with oak, ash, fir, and sometimes spruce. Adapted to all types of soils, deep in valleys, superficial on outcropping rocks, it will show some reluctance for acidity. Remarkable tree of our forests, the beech owes its reputation to its haughty beauty, to its qualities of firewood, but also to its small edible fruits, its medicinal properties buried in our memories, its varied uses and its forgotten legends.

Recipes from beech

"Beech acorn", the common name for the beech tree's crown, recalls the time when pigs were fed with the fruits of the forest, under the oak or beech groves. But this small triangular fruit appreciated by domestic and wild animals is not disdained by man. Peeled and crunched raw, it is pleasant. Roasted in a frying pan, its flavor is even better. However, its consumption must remain limited, as the side effects are known to occur in quantity. Horses are particularly sensitive to it. If the sedge is eaten, its oil, which was extremely famous in its time, is of excellent quality, without toxic active ingredients. The only concern is the irregularity of production, as beech trees bear fruit irregularly, and 2 to 3 years can pass without fruit...

In other times, during periods of famine, boiled beechnuts and dried bark were crushed and mixed with barley or oats.

Medicinal properties

If the oak deserves attention for its multiple medicinal properties, sometimes forgotten, the beech remains discreet, in the therapeutic shadow of its colleague. Its leaves were once prescribed as detersive and astringent, its bark would also be astringent. It was compared to cinchona for its febrifuge actions, harvested on the young twigs of 2 to 3 years. Creosote, an antiseptic and disinfectant, is derived from beechwood tar. It is more used for entomological boxes than for therapeutic purposes, as it is currently considered harmful. Beech charcoal is said to be bactericidal and anti-tubercular. The buds are used in gemmotherapy, they could play a role in the functioning of the kidney.

Uses of beech

Beech adapts easily to different environments, but its wood is changed. Its colors and properties vary according to the habitat, the calcareous soils of the plain will favor a clear, yellowish white wood, easy to work, while the siliceous soils of the mountains will see a harder, nervous wood grow, turning pinkish and even reddish, more difficult to work. The uses are multiple, furniture, paper pulp, fiberboard, flooring and paneling, objects worked on the lathe, oars, shovels, agricultural tools, buckets. The clog makers considered it the best wood after walnut. Not very resistant to bad weather, it must be treated to last. Thus coated with creosote, its own tar, it will line up alongside oak to serve as railroad ties.

Although it can be worked well, except for lumber, beech has a solid reputation as a firewood, as well as for its coal.

In the past, the soft autumn leaves filled canvas bags that served as mattresses, just like dried fern.

Some stories...

Slender and majestic, smooth and shiny bark, sumptuous autumn colors... The beech would be of the nobility of trees, bearer of softness, of female knowledge. It evokes a strong vitality, a power that would come from the stones that mix with it when lichens cover them both. If it does not support lightning and solitude, different from the oak, it symbolizes mutual aid, the united forest.

The magical virtues of the beech wand, divinatory if necessary but also capable of paralyzing snakes, are still cited by some elders.

The beech was used in small sticks by the Germans to write their alphabet, the runes, its name is also found in the German literary vocabulary.

A tree of freshness, familiar to our forests and parks where the majestic silhouettes of the purple beeches stand, will the beech be able to adapt to global warming?

The birch, an elegant and appreciated tree

Elegant and appreciated ornamental tree, the Birch has accompanied man since prehistoric times. Its recognized medicinal properties and its many and varied uses have made it a fundamental plant in the daily life of mankind.

The white tree

Birches, rarely solitary trees, mark the landscape with their clear silhouettes and delicate foliage. Elegance and lightness characterize them. Two large species are found in Europe, from the Betulaceae family, the Warty Birch and the Pubescent Birch, the latter preferring humid areas. Pioneers, they like cleared lands, burned, full light. They settle down, renew themselves, the time of a passage of life of man, their longevity does not exceed 100 years, 150 at most. Their properties are common and multiple...

Medicinal properties

More and more recognized and appreciated, the medicinal properties of Birch deserve to be considered.

Internally they present mainly diuretic, depurative, anti-rheumatic interests. The infusion of leaves and the decoction of buds are used in the care of renal colic, dropsy, cellulite... The sap, whose reputation continues to grow, is harvested at the end of winter, at the first signs of spring. Spring cures are recommended, in small doses, a few tablespoons per day. Its antioxidant properties are in the taste of the day, its possible role also in the regulation of intestinal disorders.

Externally the decoction of leaves or bark is detersive, disinfectant and would cure many skin problems. Leaves enveloping the body or painful organs soothe rheumatism, just like Alder leaves.

A wood with variable but numerous qualities

The white wood of Birch can be yellowish or even reddish. Neither too hard nor too heavy, it is easy to work, and is of better quality when subjected to harsh climatic conditions, in the mountains or in Northern Europe, with a slower growth.

It lends itself to turning, for the manufacture of plates, bowls, spoons, various utensils. Its lack of tannins favors food contact. Used for the manufacture of light and solid clogs, the carpentry will appreciate it for the structures of furniture. The cabinetmaking with appropriate dyes will transform it into walnut and mahogany; its wood sometimes knotty or "madré", intertwining of fibers, in some Warty Birch, will be of the most beautiful effect.

The long list is completed by the use of the young flexible stems to tie up barrels, to make tool handles, ladders, but also paper pulp, fiberboard, thin plywood, models...

An all-purpose bark

If Birch wood has many uses, its bark is not to be outdone, far from it. Highly concentrated in resins, it does not degrade, and was used, and is still used, to waterproof roofs, make hats, capes, baskets, belts, mats... The Amerindian dugouts were famous for their lightness and their capacity to carry heavy loads. As early as prehistoric times, boxes were designed, folded, rolled, sewn, allowing to carry flint, tinder, medicinal plants.... In the last century, shepherds still used them as gaiters...

By heating pieces of bark, one obtains the pitch of Birch, a tar allowing the gluing, the sealing. And if the uses of the bark of Birch are still numerous, it is necessary to quote one of them: the paper.

Various uses

In fire, Birch emits a lively heat without smoke, leaving very little ash, properties sought after by bakers and glassmakers. It is called "baker's wood". As fuel, its rolled bark was used to make long-lasting torches.

Birch also has a good reputation as a broom. Its branches attached to an ash handle by wicker or bramble ties were used to make brooms, famous for their sturdiness, but also chopsticks for unruly school children... Hence its name "tree of wisdom".

Its dyeing properties, use of the leaves, allow to obtain a yellow or green tint, according to whether one adds chalk or alum.

In the past, the leaves were dried to be used as fodder during the winter.

Birch wine closes this incomplete list, a sparkling and refreshing beverage obtained by fermenting the sap harvested in spring.

Some stories

A tree with white bark, light, elegant, pioneer, the Birch is a symbol of purity and renewal. It is associated with the light of the moon, feminine Goddess, and plays a protective and purifying role. The birch wood cradles would protect children from evil forces, the wood was inhabited by fairies ...

The Birch would also be a tree of passage between the worlds.

The brugmansia, a tropical tree with abundant trumpets

Brugmansia arborea: a tropical plant

Brugmansia arborea is an unusual plant because it is very sensitive to frost (hardiness: 0°C). It is a tropical tree which, in its country of origin, South America, can reach between 8 and 10 meters high. Contrary to Datura (close relative of Brugmensia) which has erect flowers, its trumpet-shaped flowers are falling and have beautiful colors, pink, yellow or white.

Be careful! Like Datura, Brugmansia is a toxic plant whose leaves should not be eaten.

An abundant bloom

The main attraction of Brugmensia arborea is its flowering. It is a very floriferous plant which blooms all the summer season. Continually, the tips of the stems emit one to two flower buds.

How to prune the trumpet of death?

Brugmansia arborea is a tree that can be left to grow freely if it is grown in the ground. On the other hand, if it is put to winter in an orangery, a veranda or a garage, it is better to prune it to reduce its clutter. The pruning is practiced from October and we cut mainly the extremities. The following year, it will start growing again.

To know: the flower buds appear on the stems of the year. This is why it is possible to prune it short.

Cultivation and maintenance

As Brugmansia arborea is a tree, it is necessary to repot it every year to prevent the plant from lacking food. It is necessary to plant it in a humus substrate and to bring water and fertilizer regularly. If the plant is not fed enough, its first reaction will be to lose its flower buds, the main attraction of the plant.

Ideally, Brugmansia arborea should be planted in a large container and brought in during winter.

Tip: if you have to go on vacation, consider installing a drip system with a timer.

Brugmansia arborea is also a full sun plant. It does not need any shade, because it harms the production of flower buds. It also needs a maximum of heat.

Pests of Brugmansia arborea

Brugmansia arborea has very few pests. You can sometimes notice the appearance of the white fly in summer, when it is very hot. However, the plant being so vigorous, it is not necessary to treat it.