Welcome to my blog, where I take pleasure in words and pictures, be they my own or those of others. I'm a creative individual, and the crafty side I explore on my 'other blog', Picking Up The Threads, which I hope you'll visit too. I'm sure you understand that I have sole copyright of my original work and any of my contributions, so please ask if you want to use them. A polite request is rarely refused. So, as they used to say on the BBC's 'Listen With Mother' radio programme, many years ago: "Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin."

Sunday 28 July 2013

Great Oaks From Little Acorns Grow

This presentation set of Millennium stamps was issued on 1st August 2000 and featured four distinct 'acorns' of hope that were to grow into 'oaks' full of promise:


The white writing on the green background is a little difficult to read, so here is a transcript:

Yews For The Millennium
In the next millennium yew trees will continue to grow to advanced ages in thousands of parishes in Britain, aided by the Conservation Foundation's Yews For The Millennium project. Newly planted seedlings - taken as cuttings from trees estimated to be at least 2000 years old - will eventually see the passing of more centuries and witness more history than any of us can begin to imagine.

Eden Project
Visitors to the Eden Project at St Austell in Cornwall will be able to explore two huge 'biomes' or greenhouses, home to complete collections of plants from all the climates of the world. More than 300 people will be employed in the garden at Eden to help grow everything from coconuts to sunflowers.

Millennium Seed Bank
Over the next 50 years a quarter of the worlds 240,000 species of seed-bearing plants could face extinction. The Millennium Seed Bank project at Wakehurst Place, Ardingly, set up by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, aims to conserve seeds from all of the U.K.'s 1400 native plants by 2000 and a further 10 per cent of species worldwide by 2010.

Millennium Forest For Scotland
New life is being breathed back into the Scottish woodlands through the Millennium Forest for Scotland project. From Shetland Islands to Dumfries the Outer Hebrides to Edinburgh, dozens of ancient woodlands are being regenerated and new ones created, reversing a long period of decline and benefiting both people and wildlife.



The poem inside the pack is by Holly Ruth Hopkins, one of the winners of the Simon Elvin Young Poet of The Year Award 1999.


I'm linking to Viridian's Sunday Stamps, where the theme is Trees. I had a look through a shoebox of old postcards I have and was lucky to find two more stamps with trees.


This one features the Elberta Peach and I have two examples; this one on a card from Vancouver Island, and a second, unfranked one, from Niagara Falls. The cards were dated June 1997 and May 1998. It was actually issued on 31 July 1995.


The second stamp features Quercus Alnifolia from a commemorative set of four stamps* of Trees of Cyprus, issued on 27 October 1994. This is the Golden Oak, so we're back to tiny acorns and mighty oaks again.

*The other trees in the set were, Cyprus Cedar, Black Pine and Strawberry Tree.

As a bonus I thought you might like to see some of our native trees here in Lanzarote. After our walk today we stopped in a lovely little village called Teseguite. This square next to the village church was 'muy tranquilo' - very peaceful, and we enjoyed twenty minutes wandering round, looking at the flowers and of course, the trees.






Branch out and visit Viridian and her fellow stamp enthusiasts to see what they made of the prompt.

14 comments:

  1. There's colour in your words and pictures, Nell. Very enjoyable.

    The last shot in your sequence of photos is just up my street. That new camera is coming into its own!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is interesting seeing the variety of trees from other places that are not seen here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I understand that Lanzarote used to have many trees, until they were cleared to give grazing land for the goats. We still have quite a variety, but you need to explore the wrinkles in the landscape to find them. The Spanish sign for a footpath features an oak sprig, but I've yet to find one!

    It's good to see that there is a move to replant the British forests, too much of the land is given over to single crops, which apart from the dreary views, provide no environment for native fauna.

    This is a good pictorial record of a nice day out.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't recall that particular millenium set but it does appeal to me. I wonder how those projects are getting along.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you for sharing the Millenium project. I too wonder if there has been follow-through. Grat post.

    ReplyDelete
  6. That Millennium series is lovely and informative. I've always wanted to go to see the Eden Project.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I only have the sunflower from the that millennium set. I have to confess I did not take much noi=tice of the trees in the Eden Project when I visited there. That last photo is superb, Nell. You have done the trees theme proud - not just the stamps.

    ReplyDelete
  8. How interesting, being a fan of trees this is a gold mine of treasures. Wonderful post.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for sharing these,quite new information to me. :)

    Willa @ Postage Journal

    ReplyDelete
  10. Muy tranquilo indeed. Is the place nearly uninhabited, or is it too hot to be outside? Judged by the hills in the background there aren't many trees left (I hope the goats have a nice time).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rob, it was a Sunday and pretty much siesta time. We aren't really a forested island. The place nearby was actually the 'sociedad' which would be bustling during the week.It's like a village club and the food is very cheap; we often choose to have tapas in the many sociedads on the island.

      Delete
    2. Siesta time, I should have known that :-).

      Delete
  11. That was one of the best things about the Millennium - it focused peoples' minds on thinking of the future.
    What amazing bark some trees have. Do you have the dragon tree in Lanzarote? We saw some of them in Tenerife.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Jenny, the dragon trees seem to be peculiar to Tenerife. Have a look at this short blog post about our trees, which curiously mentions the dragon tree in Tenerife. (My husband wrote it - feel free to comment!).

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.