Completely Arbortrary

The world is changed... In our first installment of The Lord of the Tree Rings trilogy, we discuss the pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) and take a deep dive into how we take care of trees as they enter their geriatric years, and the differences between American and European tree care. Then Alex has Casey solve a series of riddles... The Fellowship assembles.

Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson

Support the pod and become a Treemium Member

Follow along on Instagram

Find Arbortrary merch on our store

Find additional reading on our website

Cover art by Jillian Barthold

Music by Aves and The Mini-Vandals

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Do trees even exist, man? This week we finish our second part on the "idea" of taxonomy and we dive into this question using the beautiful, rugged, southern catalpa (Catalpa bignonioides) as our guide. Come with us on this most pendantic of journeys.

Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson

Support the pod and become a Treemium Member

Follow along on Instagram

Find Arbortrary merch on our store

Find additional reading on our website

Cover art by Jillian Barthold

Music by Aves and The Mini-Vandals

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How do you see the world? How do you organize the world, all the plants and animals around you? This week we have a discussion about taxonomy that revolves around the gorgeous Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens), and it opens a door to an entirely new way to see the world.

Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson

Support the pod and become a Treemium Member

Follow along on Instagram

Find Arbortrary merch on our store

Find additional reading on our website

Cover art by Jillian Barthold

Music by Aves and The Mini-Vandals

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Does competition or cooperation get you further in life? That's the question we tackle this week while we discuss the paper birch (Betula papyrifera). We end this episode with a game that we all love, and get some ideas on how to love the trees in your neighborhood.

Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson

Support the pod and become a Treemium Member

Follow along on Instagram

Find Arbortrary merch on our store

Find additional reading on our website

Cover art by Jillian Barthold

Music by Aves and The Mini-Vandals

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum), like nearly all junipers, is a conifer that took a different strategy to get its seeds dispersed. This week we chat about convergent evolution, and how nature can find the same solutions to problems in very different ways.

Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson

Support the pod and become a Treemium Member

Follow along on Instagram

Find Arbortrary merch on our store

Find additional reading on our website

Cover art by Jillian Barthold

Music by Aves and The Mini-Vandals

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What can't this tree do? The coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) rounds off our two-part series on the oft-confused redwoods of California. This week we celebrate this tree and all that it is, then Alex finds himself in Jeopardy.

Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson

Support the pod and become a Treemium Member

Follow along on Instagram

Find Arbortrary merch on our store

Find additional reading on our website

Cover art by Jillian Barthold

Music by Aves and The Mini-Vandals

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What does it take to be a perfect tree? We'll come to figuring it out this week as we dive into a flowing conversation about the giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum). Stick around for a discussion that explores everything about these trees, and then looks into where the term tree even comes from.

Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson

Support the pod and become a Treemium Member

Follow along on Instagram

Find Arbortrary merch on our store

Find additional reading on our website

Cover art by Jillian Barthold

Music by Aves and The Mini-Vandals

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The hickories (Carya) are a part of an ancient forest system that once existed across the entire northern hemisphere, from North America to Europe, across Asia to the Pacific and back again to the North America. This week, we chat about the shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) and discuss how it and it's closest relatives have been so successful, yet ended up so far from kin across the world.

Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson

Support the pod and become a Treemium Member

Follow along on Instagram

Find Arbortrary merch on our store

Find additional reading on our website

Cover art by Jillian Barthold

Music by Aves and The Mini-Vandals

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The English yew (Taxus baccata) is one of our most storied, mythological, and metaphorical trees to date. Death, disease, toxicity, warfare... it has it all! Listen along as we discuss this poisonous protector of the dead. All hail Hecate!

Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson

Support the pod and become a Treemium Member

Follow along on Instagram

Find Arbortrary merch on our store

Find additional reading on our website

Cover art by Jillian Barthold

Music by Aves and The Mini-Vandals

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What do you do when the way of life that you evolved over millions of years was rendered useless in the blink of an eye? Something very similar to that happened to the Osage-orange (Maclura pomifera) at the end of the Pleistocene epoch, and it wasn't alone.

Completely Arbortrary is produced and hosted by Casey Clapp and Alex Crowson

Support the pod and become a Treemium Member

Follow along on Instagram

Find Arbortrary merch on our store

Find additional reading on our website

Cover art by Jillian Barthold

Music by Aves and The Mini-Vandals

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.