Maria's Conservancy Corner: Trees

Photo by Beth Moon

​As night falls over the Makgadigadi Pans, large trees stand starkly against the horizon, leafless branches reach for the light. As the sun sinks lower, the sky drains of all colour until just red remains. On the opposite side of the sky, Earth’s shadow is rising, bringing a curtain of indigo and the promise of a clear night. Science and art merge as a myriad of stars burn fiercely overhead, dissolving into infinitude, and our thoughts follow. – Beth Moon
 
Did you know that trees grow faster when high levels of cosmic radiation reach the earth’s surface, and impacts tree growth even more than annual temperature or rainfall?
 

• Tree buds changed shape and size rhythmically, in regular cycles all through winter, directly correlating to the moon and planets.
• The oak for example, appears to change with Mars, the Beech with Saturn and the Birch with Venus.

Curiously overhead power lines disrupted this planetary influence.

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