The dense fir-and-spruce foliage, blanketed in snow and interspersed with tundra and remote lakes, stretches for more than 60 miles south of Kirkenes, the westernmost extent of the great Taiga forests that reach far into Siberia.
The needle-shedding Christmas tree of my youth, the Norway spruce (Picea abies), has gradually been elbowed out of British front rooms in favour of other trees that hang onto their foliage far longer - the Nordmann fir (Abies nordmanniana) leading the way, followed by the noble fir (Abies nobilis), the blue spruce (Picea pungens Glauca Group), and most recently the Fraser fir (Abies fraseri).
In fact, the lower branches of conifers, especially spruces and firs, often become rather sparsely clothed in foliage and removing them not only allows in more light but also improves the look of the trees.
To compensate for their narrow preference for cliffs, mountain goats eat a great variety of plants: grasses, herbs, foliage, twigs, lichens, and, in particular, alpine firs and other conifers.
The festival, which will be held Oct. 5 to 13 this year, coincides with the foliage season, when the red maple, birch and cherry trees that dot the fir-covered hillsides are at their fiery best.
Foliage, galtonflowers.com.
The foliage of birches moving in the sun had the translucent green tone of grapes, and in contrast to this there was the dark velvet of fir trees against a blue of extraordinary intensity, the like of which I rediscovered only many years later, in the montane zone of Colorado.
