June 2, 2019 - Spring - New Growth

This spring I’ve been paying attention to trees and other plants as they grow their new foliage here in Minnesota. They do this every year, of course, but it happens rather quickly, and we can easily miss what happens between the bare branch stage and the fully leafed-out trees. This is the end of an Alder branch photographed at Taconite Harbor on the North Shore. A few dark brown cones from last year are still attached. This year’s catkins, which are actually the flowers of this shrub, are bursting out from the end of the branch. A few of the new leaves are just beginning to emerge.

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Balsam trees don’t lose their needles, so they don’t need to start from a bare branch each year. We have many large Balsam trees at our home in northern Minnesota. At the end of each branch, you will find new growth like this.

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Here’s a close-up of a young Balsam tree that is only about two feet tall. There are four new buds emerging at the top. One points straight up and that will be the continuation of the tree trunk. Three other buds stick out to the sides and those will become branches. The one that is pointing toward us is still encased in brown scales but the other two have broken out. The new needles for these branches are tightly packed at this time but they will expand as the branches grow out.

BalsamnewgrowthDunningLakeItascaCounty20190525

Ferns are always interesting when they first emerge from the ground. The new growth is tightly curled at the end of the plant and it unfurls as the plant gets taller. These ferns are found at our lake home.

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I found a different kind of fern in the woods at my friend Shawn’s house near Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

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We have Maple trees at our home, and they have cute little clusters of leaves when they first emerge.

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This is from a very small tree in our woods and I’m pretty sure it’s an oak. Notice the catkins emerging at the same time as the leaves.

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I also photographed this plant in the woods at Shawn’s house and I’m not sure what it is. It has a very interesting pattern and looks like it could be a fern of some kind.

UnidentifiedplantnewgrowthShawnConradsHomeGrandRapids20190525