In a moment of uncharacteristic creativity I suggested that perhaps we could make our own Christmas decorations for the new tree this year. My initial thought was that pine cones look simple, elegant and cute dangling from fronds here and there. Pine cones should be easy to source; there are endless forest paths to choose from nearby. I'll start by saying that I am at the opposite end of the spectrum to a tree expert and my understanding of cones is limited. We drove to our planned forest track destination and found some pines, an excellent start. However, these looked far smaller and more of a tear droplet shape instead of a chubbier, round specimen. We gathered a couple of handfuls nevertheless and moved on to location two. Again, same style of cone. Hmmm. Gathered a few. There must be a different style of coniferous tree to produce the more classic pine cone.
Yes, you absolutely guessed it. By drying them off above a warm oven for a few hours they opened out into precisely the cone we had been searching for. Oh dear. I knew they would open out but I didn't expect them to look quite so different between fully closed and open! Lesson learned. Although we would recommend drying them out slowly as the swift drying process has left them quite brittle.
This one had a microscopic fungi growing from it!
The morning was spent merrily walking to spot 'different' pines here and there. These below ones were indeed different and were fenced off, presumably as they are prime targets for thieves at Christmastime.
The cones are such an amazing design.
Have you gathered pine cones before?
Take care,
Sophie
