A tree obsession

We took a nice walk at Donaldson Woods, an old growth forest at Spring Mill State Park last week. For years, Son1 was obsessed with birds, but a couple of summers ago, he suddenly developed an interest in trees, as I think I might have mentioned before. He taught himself all about trees using different guidebooks, e.g.  Sibley's Guide to Trees, and legit internet resources, mostly ones with .edu extensions. He got so good, he was able to identify a tree on campus that stumped a dendrologist colleague of hubby's.

Anyway, the specimens at Donaldson Woods are magnificent. The aforementioned colleague of hubby's recently sampled some (only the already dead ones) that dated back to early-mid 1700s!

I took a couple of photos of some of Son1's favorites:

Tuliptree

Some people call Tuliptree "tulip poplar," but they aren't poplars at all.

Northern Hackberry

I find the Hackberry bark both fascinating and creepy. Makes me itch.

Eastern Redcedar

I like the shape of this one. It'd be perfect in a horror movie where giant shrikes pin their prey onto the spiky branches.

This funky thing is a Flowering Dogwood growing through a Chicken-of-the-Woods mushroom (which are delicious). It's like nature ikebana.

Do you have any favorite trees? Have you ever been to an old growth forest or been to Sequoia National Park to visit those incredible and old trees?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams