Annie Dillard Tree Evans Property Waynesville, North Carolina (planted July 2008) "Annie Dillard" (#27), shown by Russ Regnery, 7/31/08. Flash photo because full deciduous canopy over Annie.     2008    Nov 08: Sara Evans by shoulder-height Annie. Notice how after leaf fall, Annie is in full sun to grow.      Nov 08: Guy Noir joins Sara by Annie.         September 23, 2010: noonish on sunny day; yet full shade      9/23/10: view downslope to neighbor's access road Two large trunks behind Dowd are dying hemlocks.   9/23/10: healthy, but no new central crown growth (photos by Connie Barlow)   This specimen is on the west side of the Evans property near the bottom of an east-facing moist slope of a ravine that has a perennial creek running N-S through it. Slightly upstream of the plantings, an intermittent springs/falls streams down some vertical bare rock walls and empties directly into the creek. (3,400 feet elevation) LEFT (May 18, 2012): View westward (upslope) to Annie from the main path. Annie is the lowest-elevation specimen on the entire property. The creek is about 12 feet behind the photographer. A dead hemlock is the 8"-diameter trunk in the left-most (south) part of the photo. There are no tall lower-canopy shrubs nearby, but there is a complete high-canopy deciduous cover, so this area may be a newly "released" zone following the very recent death of the hemlocks. RIGHT (May 18, 2012): This Torreya has both apical and lateral branch-tip new growth from the top of its main stem. It also has new growth on the basal coppice stem that will take over if the main stem fails. Notice that all the top radiating lateral branches have a singlet of new growth, except one has a doublet. You can, however, see the the upper left-most branch had a triplet of new growth last year, on which singlets are growing this year. Triplets are the most exuberant growth form at the tips of lateral branches. On a scale in which "Celia" specimen is rated by Lee Barnes as a 10, this specimen is a 7. ABOVE (May 18, 2012): Excellent moist-soil plant indicators include Solomon Seal, trillium, and lots of deciduous fern. LEFT (May 18, 2012): The neighbor's access road is visible in background NOTE: Spring 2013 photos below taken April 24 on an overcast day, but spring was delayed nearly 2 weeks, so it is more like April 10. Thus, instead of light-green new growth photographed above in spring 2012, there is only light-green leaf buds to indicate the vigor of the plant. ABOVE LEFT (April 24, 2013): "Annie" is marked by the orange flag and is just to the left of the bamboo stake in foreground. Neighbor's dark gray drive and then light gray road visible behind. ABOVE RIGHT (April 24, 2013): Two bloodroots (single large leaf) visible to left of Torreya. ABOVE LEFT (April 24, 2013): Top-down view, with apical of main stem at center, and a bushy short ancillary basal stem splaying outward (at top of photo). ABOVE RIGHT (April 24, 2013): Close-up of vigorous apical buds, but notice how gangly and barren the radial layer below is, which probably bears leaves grown back in 2009 or 2010. It will be interesting to monitor whether this new apical radial budding becomes lush, or whether the plant "decides" to abandon this weak main stem and simply try to grow one or both of the ancillary basal stems. NEW MEASURE OF HEALTH IN 2013: leaf bud count = only 12 on main stem. There are two healthy basal ancillary stems; one stem has 20 new leaf buds (with a strong apical and 3 triplets laterally) and the other has 11 (with no apical and just one triplet). This plant seems to be gradually abandoning its original main stem and putting more energy into its basal ancillary stems. Click here for NEXT TREE PLANTED at Evans Property, Waynesville. Click here to return to EVANS PROPERTY IN WAYNESVILLE PLANTING. Click here to return to MAIN PAGE OF TORREYA REWILDING PHOTOESSAY. WWW www.TorreyaGuardians.org Return to HOME PAGE.