Here you see a majestic white spruce tree enjoying yesterday’s warm sun.
It looks to be about 70 feet tall and is filled with new cones:
Each white spruce (Picea glauca) produces both male (pollen-producing) cones and female (seed-producing) cones.
There’s an old saying that a bumper crop of spruce, fir, and/or pine cones means that nature is providing extra wildlife food for a rough winter ahead. Research has indicated that these conifers are not so generous; they’re trying to survive as a species. The bumper crop comes after the trees suffered a stressful prior year due to a dry or otherwise significantly-changed climate. Producing more seeds increases the odds of their species carrying on during difficult times.
White spruce trees are an important Maine softwood resource used for pulp, paddles, oars, piano sounding boards, lumber, and wreath cones. Their durable roots were used by Native Americans to tie canoe birch bark panels together. They’re also called skunk spruce due to their odor at times, especially when their seeds are crushed. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on May 14, 2022.)