**132/3-Tree Talk -Cedars.

Tree Talk-Cedar.

Cedar-courtesy Wikipedia.

The original home of this tree is in the mountains of Lebanon, Syria. It is thought that there are more  cedars in England than in the mountains of Lebanon. It is a favourite for the lawns of  large country houses. Its trunk usually divides early into several upward spreading branches covered with great flat plates of impressive  foliage. The lowest of the branches droop right down to the ground. The new shoots bearing fresh needles push out in early summer. Unusually flowers are not produced  until he Autumn.  The male flowers  can be seen in the form of erect grey catkins at the ends of old dwarf    shoots, later turning purple   & by the end  of  November are loose & covered with  pollen.    The female flowers also appear at this time, small  ovoids which swell in the following year into large egg-shaped ‘cones’, flattened at the top..  Two years to ripen, the scales then open & fall off one by one to release the seeds.