Tree Circus
In the 1920's Axel Erlandson a farmer observed two Sycoamore trees that had grafted together naturally. That gave him the idea to start grafting together trees himself into complex shapes such as lightning bolts, hearts, rings and weaves. One of these tree creations is called the Basket Tree, it consists of 6 Sycamores grafted together in 42 connections to give it the basket shape. Axel Erlandson lived in Hilmar California. He spent more then 40 years shaping and grafting trees. In 1945 he moved about a dozen of his trees to Scotts Valley California and continued to create more natural wonders. He died in 1964 leaving behind 74 trees but without care they started to die. In the mid 1970s Mark Primack made the effort to save the trees. Eventually Michael Bonfante heard about the trees and bought them for a theme park he was building in Gilroy California where you can still see the trees featured today. Find out more about these interesting trees at Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park.....
http://www.gilroygardens.org/circus.htmlSee some great pictures of these wonderful trees here at the Shangrala family fun site.
http://www.shangralafamilyfun.com/trees.html The Artwork of Noble Cheer Leaf Painting Art. Enter her win a leaf painting contest!
http://www.leafpaintings.com/main/art/page2.htmlInstructions on how to make your own leaf painting.
http://www.leafpaintings.com/main/how/Teachers leaf painting in the classroom check out this link to recieve outline materials for why trees lose their leaves, photosynthesis, and enter a class leaf painting contest. for grades 2-6
http://www.leafpaintings.com/main/classroom/
