Quaking Aspen--Daily Detail

Aspen a video by dawnela on Flickr.

Aspens are almost never still. A mere breath of a breeze will stir the leaves into motion. Despite their nearly constant motion, aspens fill me with peace. I could spend hours watching how the light plays through the leaves and branches of aspen trees. The light and shadows are endlessly changing.

Aspens are fascinating to me for many reasons. The leaves are so susceptible to movement because of their flattened and flexible petioles. The trees reproduce by cloning, so entire aspen groves can actually be a single genetic individual. Within a single aspen clone, thousands of trees with identical genes grow side by side, yet each one is also unique. Aspen bark is smooth and white, a perfect canvas for carving. Arboglyphs, carvings by Basque shepherds, can be found in many aspen groves in the Great Basin. While in the company of aspens, there is always something intriguing to contemplate.

I have three full grown aspens in my yard. They are working hard at cloning themselves, and many baby aspens pop up in the lawn every summer. I am singling out a few and allowing them to grow. Someday, I hope to enjoy an aspen grove in my backyard. In the meantime, I enjoy each individual aspen I have.