Let's discuss trees! 🌳🌳🌳

[Monique vdB]

My favorite trees are the cypress trees along the California coast, especially in the fog. Here's a picture of the Lone Cypress that I took last time I did this drive.

As per tradition, use this thread to spam pictures of trees, gifs of trees, comments about trees, and quotes from the Three Amigos, because it's time for Likes for Trees 3!

[Ciara TN]

This is a local tree which is just so pretty. It is a german maple tree. 

Location: South of Sweden

[Monique vdB]

@Ciara TN that doesn't even look real - beautiful!

[Ciara TN]

It is on the top of a hill north of our town has a green area with woodland close by. Very beautiful even in winter. 

[Shawn Doyle - ReleaseTEAM]

There are not a lot of trees in Colorado, at least not near Denver.  I'll have to go back to where I grew up in Western MA.

The Eastern White Pine.

[Monique vdB]

@Shawn Doyle - ReleaseTEAM that's interesting, I think of Colorado as very tree-full! But I did learn about the Timber Line (above that line, no trees grow) in the rocky mountains so maybe that's why?

The White Pine is beautiful.

[Shawn Doyle - ReleaseTEAM]

There is a below tree line too. Not sure anyone calls it that. From the foothills just before the Rocky Mountains it pretty much looks like Kansas.

[Katherine Jones]

I'm from Louisiana and I've always loved the way cypress trees there grow in the water.  

[Monique vdB]

Wow this is beautiful @Katherine Jones .... even just with a few pictures in this thread so far I'm amazed at the diversity of trees we have. And we've only gotten to the U.S. so far!

[PJ Zaiac]

The house I grew up in has a MASSIVE Crab Apple tree that flowers like this one every spring, and it's still a personal favorite species today 🩷🌳 Just don't eat the fruit, which tastes AWFUL 😅

[Monique vdB]

@PJ Zaiac wow! I don't think I've ever seen one of these, where do they grow?

[PJ Zaiac]

@Monique vdB I think they're fewer and farther between in the US but native to both North America and Asia, with many varieties! The one I grew up with had almost entirely white flowers with little bits of blushy pink on the inner bits of the petals, but most of the images returned when I searched are bright pink or even red flowers on other varieties! 🌸

[Amanda Barber]

I love all the crab apple trees (or really any flowering tree) in the spring here in Wisconsin! We have a baby flowering tree and I can't wait for it to grow!

[Dori Burnett]

Ugh my favorite tree is the Weeping Willow (i.e. Mother Willow)  - I just love that they look like Dr. Suess creations and they're native here in the southern U.S. so I see them all the time. 

[Monique vdB]

@Dori Burnett I love the Spanish Moss in the south too! Weeping Willows are so amazing. 

[Jaime Netzer]

Gotta come in with the Cottonwood, the state tree of Kansas — hilariously, my dad upon moving here planted one in our backyard, but they grow to be 70 to 100 feet in height — not really a yard tree, he discovered. 🤣

The underside of the leaves provide this glorious sparkle when it's windy, which is nearly always in Kansas. 🥰

[Monique vdB]

@Jaime Netzer wow that's gorgeous! Our neighbors gifted us an apricot tree when we moved in. and it now gives us hundreds of apricots every summer - the squirrels and I both love it. 🐿️

[Jay Jarman]

Is this the one your dad planted?

[Jaime Netzer]

Unfortunately no @Jay Jarman that one was not long for the world/yard once dad realized what he had done. but there are gorgeous river birches back there now!!

[Caity Belta]

I love Palo Verde Trees! Native to the Sonoran Desert. Contributing to the Dr.Seuss-y vibe of the Arizona landscape.  I have two at my house in Tempe, AZ! Fun fact - green bark allows it to photosynthesize even after the leaves drop. 

[Jay Jarman]

Black walnut is my favorite tree.  Black walnuts are the first to lose their leaves and the last for their leaves to come in.  They drop black walnuts, which can hurt you if they hit you in the head.  They can lay you up if you step on one and twist your ankle.  The nuts taste good, but it is so hard to get the nut meat out of the shell that nobody wants them. The tree leaves this black coating on everything around it, including your car, and it's really difficult to wash it off.  They have a lot of dead limbs, which fall right along with the walnuts.  So, why on earth is this my favorite tree?  The wood.  Black walnut is beautiful.  The sapwood, or the wood closest to the bark, is off-white.  The heartwood, or the older wood in the center of the tree, is the color of dark chocolate.  It is more grain porous than cherry but not as much as oak.  I enjoy carving greenwood, and black walnut is one of my favorite to carve.  When it's green, a sharp knife will cut through it like butter.  This spoon was carved on the radial plane.  That's how it has a section of light sapwood and a section of dark heartwood.  The tree absorbs minerals from the soil, and they appear like sparkles within the wood.  

[Monique vdB]

@Jay Jarman this is like a prose poem, I love it.

[Dave Liao]

This year I learned that in Philly, the Philadelphia Horticultural Society (PHS) plants (and maintains) trees for free in many parts of the city. 🌳🌳🌳

p.s. PHS was doing a talk on the work they do in the city - had no idea until I attended the talk!

[Sherilyn Tasker]

It's winter here in New Zealand so the trees can look at bit dramatic and moody, but who doesn't love that in a tree? I'm pretty sure this is an Elm.

[Monique vdB]

@Sherilyn Tasker wow this is soooo moody, I love it. I'd love to visit New Zealand someday!

[Monique vdB]

7,408 trees planted so far!

[Kate C_]

😏

[Monique vdB]

I searched my photos for "tree" and it surfaced this, from when we were staying in a floating house in Portland, Oregon.  Rain in the evening and fog in the morning, so amazing.  

[Amanda Barber]

WOW! Love it!

[shruti_wagh]

Neem (Azadirachta indica) is a tree that grows in tropical regions such as India. Sometimes called “the village pharmacy,” neem is a unique medicinal plant in that all of its parts including its leaves, flowers, seeds, fruit, roots, and bark can be used. 🌱🌳🌿🪵
Neem packs over 130 active compounds that may give it numerous antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.

Neem provides oxygen for 24 hours.

[Sherilyn Tasker]

So this is where Neem oil comes from ! I use it in the garden as a pesticide.

[Dreamsuite Mike]

I'm going to give a different perspective on a tree...This is the kaleidoscope of colourful plants and animals growing off the roots of mangrove trees.  I love Mangroves, they are magical nurseries for nature, they offer protection against natural disasters and absorb lots of Carbon Dioxide.  

[Sherilyn Tasker]

Mangroves are so important ! love this 

[Kate C_]

I honestly don't think I could pick a favourite tree, but one I'd like to share is the Gija Jumulu (Giant Boab). This one lives up in Kings Park, Western Australia, where it was relocated after needing to be moved for construction (😑). On the plus side, it means it can be enjoyed by many, many people who visit the park. It's hard to capture how impressive and humbling(?) this tree is in a photo.

Here are two examples of Boabs from the Kimberley region, Western Australia (person for scale):