Regret

I caught sight of this spectacularly weeping Engelmann spruce from the highway in northern Washington.  It was standing alone in a field, so it really stood out.  I am guessing that whomever cleared the trees in that field noticed this unusual tree and spared it.

The following winter, I stopped by a house across the road to try to find out who the owner was.  A woman answered the door.  I was nervous- you never know how people are going to react to you when you want to shoot a tree on their property.  The lady knew exactly which tree I was talking about, and she seemed curious about what I wanted to do.  She yelled to her husband inside the house to see if he had any objection to me shooting twigs out of their spruce.  He did not, so I went across the road to the tree.

There was snow on the ground- maybe a couple of feet.  It was a little bit difficult to get over the barbed wire fence- though not as hard as it was wading in the chest-deep powder that you'd find at higher elevations.  I shot several twigs out of the tree and collected about 20 cones that had fallen onto the snow.

Only one seed from the cones germinated, but it died a few days later.  Two of the grafts took, however.  Now I must observe the grafted trees for a decade or two to see if this form can be duplicated by grafting.

I have decided to name this tree 'Regret', since it seems sad- albeit in a dramatic and spectacular way.