I have always marvelled at the incredible variety of tree barks, their rugged beauty and the tactile experience of stroking their smooth surfaces or pressing your fingers into their weathered and wrinkled ruts and grooves.
Each tree expresses a part of it’s character in the contours and colour palette of its bark, creating an infinite display of subtlety and story that is of at least equal beauty to it’s leaves and blossoms.
Here are some of the loveliest I have seen in the last month, some taken in the woods and some in my parents’ and parents in law’s gardens.
Apple Bark
Cherry Bark
Whitebeam Bark
Silver Birch Bark
Walnut Bark
Pine Bark and Ivy
Oak Bark
Whispering Earth 
wow lovley, when i heard that you could make essences out of leaves and bark i thought that was just sooo beautiful! i think that would be amazing, as i love trees. The woods is my favourite place, i love going to the woods..especially to pick wild garlic leaves which are so abundant at the moment.
i still have alot to learn about wild plants as everytime i go out i see new plants/flowers that i dont know, but are quite common! i have so many questions!
but i think to myself its ok that i dont know what these plants are yet, im learning in my own beautiful time. its a shame we arent taught these things at school. no-one has a clue about wild plants etc it seems these days, so i am just grateful that i have an interest and passion in these subjects, even if i dont know things that maybe I “should” know and that my ancestors knew so intuitively!
xxxx
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Hi Holly,
Yes trees are so incredible aren’t they, I find them more healing than anything else. I make a range of sprays based on tree essences, just using the leaves and twigs though.
We were in the woods today and saw more wild garlic than I have ever seen before, it was everywhere, literally a carpet, and just coming into flower!
I’m still learning about wild plants too, it’s definitely a lifetime’s work, but every year I learn more plants and more about the ones I already know and you’ll find just the same.
There are some nice wild plant walks happening around Brighton every now and then, I’ll let you know when one comes up.
I was chatting to a herbalist friend of mine the other day about how blessed we are to have this passion for the natural world, what a gift, what a mystery 🙂
Love and rustling leaves xxx
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wonderful pics – you’re right, at the moment, the flowers are just too showy-offy for anyone to notice the beauty of barks… let alone remember their wonderful medicinal properties! i’d be interested in the wild plant walks as well, after saturday i know that brighton’s really just a stone’s throw away… i’d love to join you some time!
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Great, I’ll keep you informed x
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Oh yes, please let us know when there are wild plant talks! we should definetly meet up in brighton soon! where did april go!?
I know i have lots of questions, i hope you dont think im being demanding, but please could you tell me how you make bark essences/sprays!! what barks do you use? can you use moss on the bark? and linchen? i would love to make these!!!
xxx
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It’s a similar process to making flower remedies. Dr Bach used a boiling method for his tree remedies but I really like just using the same solarising process, it works well for me. I’ve never done a lichen essence but there is one in the Aussie Bush Flower range so it’s definitely possible 🙂
I’ll let you know when I’m planning to do one and you can join me. The next couple I plan to make are flowers but I’ll be making tree remedies again before too long.
xx
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