Loblolly Love

[Marnie, Stanlee's Mom]

Some of you mentioned that you didn’t know what a loblolly pine was so I took some time out of my not-so-busy schedule to put together a photo “montage”.  I took my happy booty out this weekend and took a few pictures to share in the hopes that my complaints about our springtime pollen would sink in.  (Ignore the pretty flowers in the background and concentrate on the horror of Spring in Tallahassee.)

In order to best understand just how thick the pollen accumulation gets, I must first introduce you to the dreaded loblolly pine trees I was lovingly referring to last week.  The loblolly pine tree is indigenous to the Southeastern United States.  They grow fairly tall and the clusters of very long needles grow mostly at the top part of the tree and not all the way to the ground like the beautiful Douglas fir or my favorite, the Fraser. Nope, our pine trees look like this:

Here we have a photo taken from my backyard.  This photo shows two of the title holding champion producers of pollen.  Note:  Those tiny little “blobs” that look like miniature pinecones?  Their not – they’re what are called “pollen cones”.  Yup – nothin’ but pretty yellow baby-fine powder up there just waiting to rain down on unsuspecting civilians. 

 

Here is a close up of a pollen cone:

And here is what a tree looks like once the pollen cones have burst:

I…LOVE…YELLOW!

Moving on, folks. 

Wandering outside with my camera in hand in the hopes of providing the best representation of the demonic fertilization technique through photographic example possible, my neighbor and kindred spirit, “Magillicutty”, threw open her screened door and beckoned me across the street with an ice cold beer.  How does one resist that kind of temptation?

Cold beer in hand, I explained to my friend the photos I was in the process of putting together to share with my on-line friends.  “No problem!  Just snap a couple of pictures here on my screened in porch and then we’ll have another cold one!”

Well okay then, buddy, consider it done!

Here we see Magill’s antique bureau.  Note the circle in the bottom left-hand corner; that is where her coasters normally reside.  I removed them to show you the effects on non-human entities as well.  Isn’t that an exquisite shade of sulfur?

Here we have an example of a “butt print”.  Thank goodness pollen washes out easily!

My plants at home look just a yummy and they’re not even outside!

And here we have my car.  I love my car.  I love my car so much I named him.  His name is Gawaine.  Gawaine looks like he needs a bath.  But wait, he received one an hour before this picture was taken in the hopes of looking his best.  ONE HOUR!  You can even see where the pollen dried with the droplets of water left over from his rinsing.

Yes this is why I love springtime.  Not the lovely flowers you catch glimpses of in the background of the photos above.  Not the sunshine and lazy days we take advantage of every weekend.  It’s the pollen; the repugnance that arises like the sun at dawn.  The joy of Swifer as the cost of their stock continues to rise.  It’s not love in our air, friends….it’s pollen.

 

 

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

Yuck- and the flowers are so pretty.  another bad joke from Mother Nature

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Wow that's definitely one overzealous species of tree. Good job you aren't allergic to that pollen. I'd say if you were you would have to move. The blog was so interesting. Thanks for taking time to take all those pics and explain so well.

[Pat and Traveler]

Marnie, very entertaining and educational photo blog!  Ugh for that pollen!!  Love the notes and arrows on the photos.  So glad there are no loblolly pines around here!

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

I feel your pain Marnie!  Pine is a 20 year crop here in S. E. Virginia.  We live in the middle of several hundred acres of open land but the dreaded pollen from surrounding areas coats EVERYTHING.  We haven't gotten to pollen season yet - it's just around the corner.

[Doris, Knox & Flash]

Marnie, is Stanlee yellow??? I thought the Brazos Valley, the area that I live in in Texas, was bad, but we don't have anything on you!  You can keep your crack -- I don't want it! 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Snow is starting to look pretty good to me right now! Yikes!

[Melissa and Willa Couch]

yep.....looks about like Mississippi!

[Janie, Jackson and Jilly]

Wow, and I thought we had pollen in the spring!!

[Sheila & Finnley]

You poor pollen crunching woman ! Guess it's maybe your version of our poplar tree season. They explode with big white fluff that fills the air like snow in some places.

So hang in there. Loved your blog, and pictures, but mostly all your little lines that pointed to the highlights of the blog pictures ! They were great. Wear a mask and take a Zyrtec ! 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Wow, that's a lot of pollen!