A few weeks ago, I was driving down an adjacent block with my window open when I was assailed by a scent-memory. I recalled the first time, in Scotland, when I had the opportunity to enjoy Katsuratree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) as it was described to me, with the wonderful smell of burnt sugar. Dirr says more precisely: "a delightful, spicy odor of cotton candy." I love everything about this elegant, four-season-interest tree. The way the leaves change colors from their emergence to fall (bronze, green, yellow) and how they are attached to the tree are particularly compelling, as are the form and bark. It seems the perfect plant for those great Japanese novels I read in high school and college, where the cultural sensibility celebrated the impermanence of all things...especially Kawabata.
2 comments:
The leaves are so lovely, dangling like decorative cutouts, or flat paper lanterns.
Wonderful pictures of this fabulous tree. Ours turned that lovely yellow this fall because we had such warm weather. Mostly it gets spotty and unattractive. There was a little scent but not much. We have noticed it in other years, but it is a fairly rare event with our climate.
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