My neighborhood has some unusual street trees. A few blocks away there's a solid block of Sweet Gums (Liquidambar stryaciflua) that make an incredible tricolored foliage show in the fall and an unbelievable knee high mess when they shed their macelike fruit. Bags and bags of them are heaved to the sidewalk by the homeowners who have to rake them from front yards, sidewalks and hell strips.
Anyway, when I was out for my early morning walk today I noticed a young, low branched Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera) in bloom. An eastern native, it's not often I get to see these exotic flowers at eye level as the trees in my parts are tall, tall, tall and their blooms are usually 50-60-70 feet above my head.
A sun kissed 'tulip'
A sun kissed 'tulip'
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3 comments:
Aaah, sounds like you have a love/hate relationship with Sweet Gums like I do with the 6 giant sycamores I have lining my property! They are such beautiful trees, but my are they prolific shedders-pollen, seed pods, bark and leaves! It is 12 months a year cleaning up after them.
What beautiful bark sycamores have--even the pieces that are shed are like fine jigsaw puzzle pieces.
I haven't seen a tulip tree in years, not since my Virginia childhood. Since then my love for it has been superseded by the flamboyant chestnut (those leaves! those blooms!) but now that I see the tulip tree again, I wonder if I should plant one.
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