Ken’s Trees

I have not taken an official measurement of the other Dawn Redwoods in my collection, but for at least a week maybe two Willard has not been the tallest tree of the bunch.  That distinction goes to The General pictured below, topping off at 5 1/4 inches tall.  It has been awhile since I have posted any photos of The Others, so this week I will be featuring each one on a different day.  Two of them are still without names, and I am looking for suggestions.

I’ve spent the last two days sick in bed and combined with the loss of internet yesterday, I have not been able to keep up a new post every day.  So today we will have double dose of Willard, today’s photo above and yesterday’s photo below.  Unfortunately, I feel asleep on Friday before I had a chance to take a picture.   I’m feeling better today, so hopefully everything will get back on track this week.

The water icon is back today as I watered Willard this morning, it has been awhile since it has appeared on the site because I forgot to add it last Friday. The other day I mentioned three buds at the top of the tree, and after many attempts finally got a half way decent photo of them. They are green, but they don’t quite look the same as the other branches and leaves that have grown, so I am interested to see what comes out of them.

I ran out of time today (yesterday at this point), but I want to make sure to at least get the photo up.  Tomorrow shouldn’t be too busy, although I think there is a new episode of Lost…

Now that we have seen the full 360 degrees of Willard, I thought that I would take a photo looking directly down on the tree.  Below I have posted the view from above, one of the features you should note is the highest branch on the left.  Just two weeks ago I posted a photo of the two offshoots on this branch that have clearly developed into more branches.  Tomorrow we will take a closer look at the buds at the top of the tree that I mentioned yesterday.

Willard is back and ready to pose for photos again, and using a new background color today.  The tree is now wider than the pot it is in, the branches continue to grow but the top has slowed down.  There seem to be three of what I can only describe as buds at the top of the tree, so we will see what happens with these very soon.  Tomorrow I will post a view from above, so that we can view Willard from as many angles as we can.

Years ago when my little brother Allen was in Junior High School he bought this little plant at Home Depot. The thing just took off and would not stop growing, our parents had to build an addition on to the house just to contain this thing. Then it started getting too tall for the new sun room, Allen thought he would fix that problem and chop the top off the plant. Well the plant showed him and grew new sprouts and it is now out growing the room again. He had to buy a condo with 20 foot high ceilings just so that this spring he can move this plant there. The photo on the left is what the tree looks like today, and is linked to a larger photo.

When he chopped off the top of the plant, he rooted the cutting and it is now growing in our parents living room. This cutting has taken off as well and will probably out grow the room in a couple years. The cutting is shown in the photo below.

I think this is probably a really odd plant to see in Maine, and none of us have any idea what it is. If anyone has a clue, please let me know so that we can tell everyone what the heck this plant is.  Or if you have an interesting tree that you want featured on Ken’s Trees, send a photo and a description to share it with the world.

With all the new found fame, Willard is taking a break from the paparazzi this weekend to celebrate Easter. Actually I’m at my parents this weekend and did not feel comfortable transporting Willard yet. Once he is outside I think a small trip like that would not be as big of a problem. There are some interesting plant things going on up here, so check back tomorrow for something new.

Since joining EntreCard, the traffic for Ken’s Trees has skyrocketed.  One of the websites that keeps track of traffic on the internet is Alexa, it’s like the official internet popularity contest.  When I checked the Alexa rank the other week, Ken’s Trees made it into the top 1 million websites online drawing 0.000325% of all traffic on the internet.  Then I saw that I could buy a t-shirt to show off how popular my website is, I started laughing at this and I couldn’t resist.  Willard is now officially the most popular bonsai tree seedling in the world.  Since ordering the shirt the Alexa rank has improved to 272,662 drawing 0.000505% of the traffic on the internet and is on pace to break into the top 100,000 sites within the next two months.

As promised I got the ruler back next to Willard, and although he seems to be getting wider he is still just over 4 1/2 inches tall.  When I take these measurement photos I wish that I had an extra arm, or maybe longer arms because it is difficult to get everything lined up and focused for a good shot.  I got a special item in the mail today, tune in tomorrow to see the first official piece of kenstrees.com merchandise!