Turning over new leaves: Notice the trees, authors say

The moment of breathtaking realization was as subtle as it was elegant.

Nature’s whisper was so faint that Nancy Ross Hugo wasn’t sure she was hearing anything. But as she stood among the towering trees and concentrated her hearing, the faintest rustle of life’s renewal was heard.

“It was almost an imperceptible sound,” Hugo said. “What it turned out to be was the sound of the bud scales of a beech tree falling off and hitting leaves and branches as they fell to the ground.

“It was an enchanting sound, and one I had never heard before. When I think of that moment, the word that comes to mind is ‘privilege.’ I felt privileged to have experience that.”

There are billions of trees in Virginia, but to a great extent they are the strangers among us. In their ubiquitousness, they are often the verdant backdrop to our lives, present yet often unnoticed.

Hugo and internationally renowned photographer Robert Llewellyn are helping to change that. In 2008 they came out with a beautifully illustrated coffee-table book, “Remarkable Trees of Virginia.”

That ambitious four-year project sparked their most recent book, “Seeing Trees: Discover the Extraordinary Secrets of Everyday Trees.”

The first book, now several printings into its existence, celebrates wondrous trees such as the Earlysville white oak. The new effort introduces readers to the trees in a much more intimate way.

Like humans, trees have personalities, procreate and are in a constant flux of change. And as the authors show time and again, they will communicate — if one knows what to look and listen for.

“Trees essentially make up a community that’s living among us,” Llewellyn said as he admired the trees outside his studio near Charlottesville. “It’s a very complex society.

“See that walnut tree that’s all by itself? It actually puts a chemical in the ground to keep other trees away so it gets all the light for itself.

“As a photographer I used to see trees as just these big green objects in the landscape. Now I really notice them. For me, it was like we were the only life on the planet, but now I know there’s this whole other civilization.”

Hugo and Llewellyn racked up 20,000 miles crisscrossing the commonwealth to find and photograph the state’s most exceptional trees. Coming within touching distance of trees with “wow” qualities allowed them to shake hands, as it were, with newfound friends.

“Bob, with his engineering background, kept looking at the little details of trees, like the buds,” said Hugo, who has written about trees, gardens, native plants and floral design for more than 30 years and is the author of “Earth Works: Readings for Backyard Gardeners.”

“He wanted to know what this does, or how does it operate or why does it exist. Sometimes I could answer his questions and sometimes I couldn’t.

“He started bringing little pieces back to his studio to photograph. We ended up with this look at tiny phenomenons that people often overlook.”

The photography in “Seeing Trees” reveals Llewellyn at his best, but often at the minuscule level. By using special software invented for medical microscopes, he was able to provide clear, close-up images of things such as the winged red maple seed.

These seeds, often called helicopters because of their spinning descent, are presented as works of art. A picture of an individual seed reveals a vein-like structure in the wing and vivid pink tones.

“A big part of our mission was to help people appreciate the fact that trees are living organisms,” Hugo said. “We tend to think of them as maybe statutes or just wood in the landscape.

“When people look at a tree, they see something that’s sort of a symbol of slow, inexorable growth. They grow so slowly that you really don’t experience much change unless you’re looking at the smaller things, which we do in the book.

“They’re actually changing so fast that you often can’t keep up with them. You can appreciate a tree as a living organism more if you’re looking at the things that change faster than the size of the trunk.”

One of Llewellyn’s greatest challenges for the new book was capturing the numerous and often fleeting expressions of trees. Even though most of the images in the book are from trees on his own property, he still often was hard pressed to be at the precise place at the precise moment to get the sought-after shot.

“A lot of these things happen hourly or in the blink of an eye,” said Llewellyn, whose photographs grace the pages of several books, including “Albemarle: A Story of Landscape and American Identity” and “Empires in the Forest: Jamestown and the Making of America.”

“For example, the cones of a red cedar will open, the pollen will come out in clouds of yellow dust, and then it’ll be gone. Fortunately, Nancy lives in Ashland, which is like being two weeks in the future from where I am here.

“Whatever is blooming there will bloom here two weeks later. So she would call me and say such and such will bloom, and to be looking for it. If I missed it here, I could go up to Afton, which is like two weeks behind where we are here.”

“Seeing Trees” is laid out in two parts. The first part addresses the art of actually seeing and knowing what to look for. The second part familiarizes readers with 10 well-known species of trees — American beech, American sycamore, black walnut, eastern red cedar, ginkgo, red maple, southern magnolia, tulip poplar, white oak and white pine.

The species were selected for a number of reasons. For one, they had to be trees Hugo and Llewellyn could watch carefully. They also had to have a wide range.

The range was important, because the book has enjoyed a national as well as international distribution. The authors have received very complimentary remarks from people overseas who love the book, but point out that some of the trees have different names where they live.

As beautifully illustrated and informative as the book is, the authors agree that it doesn’t replace the wonder real trees will give observers. As the title suggests, their hope is that their effort will help people see trees as living friends that quietly share so much.

“I think our appreciation for trees is hardwired in us and quite deep,” Hugo said. “The fact that we evolved from animals that live in trees is one reason.

“I think one of the reasons people have responded so positively to the book is that they understand that trees are underappreciated.

“Once you see these little things they do, they become part of our experience and enrich us. I don’t want to be perceived in any way as a tree expert.

“I’m an involved amateur tree observer who loves learning and showing people how to see things. What I’ve learned is that trees are incredibly smart, and their adaptations are so wise.”

Since the book came out in September, Hugo and Llewellyn have gotten a lot of feedback indicating the book is having the effect they hoped for.

“We’re seeing that people aren’t just reading the book, they’re going out and doing what it suggests,” Llewellyn said. “One woman we heard from has adopted three trees and is planning to watch what they do for the next year.

“She said they have always been in front of her, but she never really saw them before.”

Hugo and Llewellyn will be giving a talk on the book during the Virginia Festival of the Book from March 21 to 25 and will be participating in the Ballyshannon Forum at Piedmont Virginia Community College at 8 p.m., March 22.