An unapologetic plant geek shares advice and opinions on gardening, the contrived and the natural landscape, as well as occasional topics from the other side of the gate.

February 26, 2008

Anglophiles and Swedes

I have many favorite customers, but one I always look forward to seeing is a British ex-pat who shares a love of dogs with me, and who brings me her past copies of The Garden, which is published by the Royal Horitcultural Society. Even though my roots in this state go back nearly 400 years, I am an Anglophile at heart, especially when it comes to their gardens, so I love getting these magazines. Anyhow, in the January 2008 issue on the last page was this photo that caught my eye -- and held it.

At first I though it was some kind of environmental art installation representing a tree. But in reality it was a picture taken by Joakim Berglund from an airplane while he was flying over damaged parts of southern Sweden after Hurricane Gudrum in January 2005. Who knew that Sweden had hurricanes, and where did they get that name from? Berglund won an award for this picture in the 2006 Natural History Museum Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. The piles around the "roots" of the tree are trunks harvested from the fallen timber, the "branches" are access roads leading into the forested area.

Berglund said

"It was if the heavens had sent a message to the forestry industry reminding them that, in this area, deciduous trees would have withstood the winds better than pine."

6 comments:

  1. Sweden has hurricanes...really? Wow.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is what I said, but according to the magazine, several people died, winds gusted to 90mph, and there was a massive power outage. It was the strongest storm since 1969.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a fabulous photo!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is a fantastic photo, and who knew that Sweden could have hurricanes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Les, thank you very much for sharing this image and story. And for directing me to your post. It is like you read my mind as I was working on a pre-post for next post on Month in Tens, which is about Shooting the Ordinary. It is about seeing objects in a new and different way, all with the help of a camera. Sometimes being ordinary is really being extraordinary.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Donna,
    When I first saw this picture I was stunned, but in a good way.

    ReplyDelete