A Tale of Two Trees
Many year ago I planted a dozen or so trees in a small area to the southeast of our house where they could enjoy the morning sun and eventually provide shade. The majority were Douglas Fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii, but, as I had them available, I added three or four Larch, probably Larix occidentalis). The years come and go, come and go, with predictable regularity and living things grow, generally getting larger. I continue to find it amazing that a seedling planted when it was perhaps ten inches high could in a dozen years reach 15 - 20 feet. Now, thirty or more years later they are magnificent, perhaps too much so. Various utility lines are buried beneath them and there is no comfortable place to fall them that would not result in substantial damage to the landscape, if not the house.
But that is not what I wanted to write about. The Larch were raised from the same seed lot and initially they all seemed to be growing at the same rate. Eventually one died, or else I cut it down because of crowding, and the other two continued to fulfill their destiny. After only a few years it was obvious they were growing at very different speeds. I began referring to one of them as my living flagpole and intended (still intend) to make such use of it very soon. Environmental conditions and management have been identical all these years. I can only conclude the difference is in they genetic makeup.
One has only to glance at these two trees to realize the unpredictability of genetics. Hybridizers often plant hundreds of seeds from the same seed pod, spend years raising them to maturity, hoping to get one or two offspring that are different enough, in a positive manner, to justify their continued propagation.
Maybe I’ll turn the tree into a maypole.
The two trees referred to are the second and fourth from the left.
