Korean fir, in all its glory

This fir tree has spectacular black cones later in the year. At the moment you can see some old cones, which fall apart to disperse the seeds.

Then you can see new cones (female), standing tall, pale and proud. The male flowers are the small cones that hang down. They are full of pollen and a slight movement makes them disgorge it in yellow clouds.

The tips of the branches are covered in a protective layer, , so they look like pale buds.

It is a wonderful tree to have in the garden.

Today, I did food shopping, then went to visit Maureen. It was her birthday yesterday. She had lots of cards, flowers and chocolate. She loves chocolate!

I’ve spent the rest of the day preparing my presentation for Wednesday’s walk. The best discovery was that I can prepare it on the desktop in PowerPoint and it will open on the MacBook in Keynote. That has made my life a lot easier.