Forests and woodlands have old associations with enchantment and mystery. As magical places forests may be benign and even be sacred places, but conversely enchantment may be malevolent.  Forests can provide sanctuary but they can also conceal danger. Wildness can be healing but it can also be threatening.

A small stand of indigenous trees behind our garden screens us from the regimented trees of the commercial plantation beyond. The small woodland benefits birds and other creatures as the trees and understorey provide food, shelter, nesting sites, cover and concealment for a wide variety of lifeforms.

This little woodland forms a shady sanctuary that I like to spend time in. This week when seeking to capture a sense of enchantment amongst these trees I found it was best conveyed in black and white. In this post I share what my camera found.

Emerging

Shining

Luxuriating

Extending

Reflecting

Entangling

Buttressing

Supporting

Filtering

Embracing

Fruiting

Soaring

Withstanding

Mellowing

Seeking

Trees prominent in the enchanted woodland featured in these photos include white stinkwood (Celtis Africana), umzimbeet (Millittia grandis), Henkel’s yellowwood (Podacarpus henkelii), Natal fig (Ficus natalensis), jackal-coffee (Trycalysia lanceolate), bushwillow species, probably river bushwillow (Combretum erythropphyllum), tree fuschia (Halleria lucida).

Much gratitude goes to M. and T. (the previous owners of our house and garden) for planting these trees.

Posted by Carol