This year I am watching my Field Maple as part of Lucy’s Tree Following meme at Loose and Leafy. I introduced my tree here in early February, and to be honest not much has changed since then!
The botanical name Acer campestre comes from Latin; acer means sharp, which I assume refers to the leaf shape, and campestre – from campus – means field or open land. There is another common name in German: Maßholder. This name means ‘food tree’, and evolved from the ancient use of the leaves which were eaten like sauerkraut or fed to cattle.
As there is little else to see this month apart from the tiniest hint of leaf buds, let’s look at the bark…
As you see there is moss clinging on to the grey-brown bark, which is a bit like cork. Although it is rough it is somehow pleasant to touch. The moss does very well in this part of the garden as it is shady once the other trees come into leaf. In fact this is one of the shadiest spots mid-summer, which is why it was chosen for one of our hammocks. Perhaps you can notice that the grass beneath it is also mostly moss… lovely to walk on barefoot on a hot day!
So, with dreams of summer, thanks to Lucy who now has a lovely big group of tree followers linking to her meme. Take a look here, or better still, join in!
Hi Cathy, I am so curious about the progress of the development. Love to see the moss 🙂
Have a nice weekend! Uta
Thanks Uta. Have a great Sunday and hope the sun shines!
I have several of these trees in the garden but not as big as yours which is quite a size. Do you find that it seeds around everywhere? I look forward to watching yours develop round the year.
All the maples, sycamores etc seed like mad here, as we live right next to the woods. I weed literally hundreds out every year! In fact this one was probably an unintentional seedling once too, years before we arrived here. The garden was landscaped when the house was built and then left to its own devices for 30 years!
Lovely, stately tree Cathy. I love the reminder of walking barefoot on moss.
I am looking forward to weather warm enough to go barefoot… sometimes it’s just about possible by Easter… 🙂
I love that you focused such attention on the bark. It’s really beautiful! I love seeing the moss on it, too. I am eager to see what this gorgeous tree looks like when it is full. It must have a really gorgeous canopy, Cathy. It looks huge!
It isn’t actually that large but does have a nice shape both with and without its leaves. We do like the shade it gives in summer!
Tree bark is so different if you stop to have a close look at it. Like you i have posted some pictures of bark on my tree following, one to see if people can guess the tree. Great photo with the moss.
Thank you. I am actually hopeless at identifying trees Brian, let alone bark, and would not be surprised if my field maple turns out to be some other tree in the maple family! LOL! This will definitely be a learning process this year.
The bark of your tree is quite beautiful, as is the moss growing there! These are things you just don’t notice about a tree until you check it out close up. Great photos. I look forward to seeing your tree next month.
I hope there is more to report on next month. Thanks for visiting!
There never seems to be much difference between February/March but I imagine it will be a different scenario next month. The bark looks most intriguing. I’m fascinated by the third character of the German common name which I’ve never seen before. How do you pronounce the word Cathy?
Hi Anna. The ß is basically a double s (ss) and the word is pronounced exactly as written, as is always the case in German – like mass holder in English.
Thanks for enlightening me Cathy 🙂
I think it will be a long time before we see any trees leafing out with this cold winter and delay of spring. Yours is a fine specimen and quite a majestic tree.
Our season is not as advanced as some years Donna – last year we were 3 weeks ahead until August but things are just about average this year so far. Hope your snow is still melting!
Moss is wonderful and I do what I can to encourage it between pavers and where the grass is sparse. Looking forward to more tree updates.
We actually have more moss and weeds than grass! Hope there is more to report on next month, but with another week of warm weather forecast I think it should at least have some leafbuds by then.