What’s your favourite colour?
Bright golden yellow. I know it’s a controversial choice for a tree. Especially for a conifer since most of us are evergreen. Believe me, I’ve been teased for my fashion choices over the millennia but I stick by it: golden yellow all autumn long.
You look fabulous. But can you explain this break from traditional evergreen?
I’m what you call a deciduous conifer. I have needles and cones, like most conifers, but I don’t keep them on my branches all year. I join other deciduous trees like maple, oak, and birch in the autumn ritual of donning brilliant colours and then shedding leaves—or needles, in my case.
Does this ever cause misunderstanding?
I’m often mistaken for dead! People get all in a fluster when my needles turn yellow and fall off. What’s wrong with the tree?! Save the tree! Please don’t worry. Trees—like people—have different ways of being. It makes for a healthier and more beautiful forest.
Let’s try to clear up any other misunderstandings. What’s your nickname or your formal name?
You may know me as tamarack, larch, eastern larch or, in Mi’kmaw, Apu’tam’kie’jit. My Latin name is Larix laricina.
Do you have a superpower?
Tamaracks are tough trees. We can survive in temperatures below –60°C and are one of very few trees that can grow in peat bogs. We can live to be two hundred years old.
Do you have a best friend?
It’s a sad tale, to be honest. I used to be friends with the Eastern larch beetle. Not BFFs but we tolerated each other in small doses. Now, with the warming climate, larch beetle has become irritable and, I have to say, a regular pest. I’m not sure how to fix things.
I’m sorry to hear that. What’s your one wish?
Climate change scares the needles off me. We’re tough but rising temperatures and drought are real stressors for hackmatack. Here’s my wish: every person does one daily act of kindness and caring for the natural world. Even if it’s pausing to notice and appreciate your local trees.
The Wild Talk chapbook is coming soon! Twelve months of conversations in one little book. Available at Torn Edges: A Celebration of the Printmakers’ Art (Lunenburg Art Gallery December 2-–7) or by email: wildflowerpress@proton.me
