Kelley, I dashed out and took a picture of one of my plants (it had been mowed down earlier). They do have reddish stems.

Hope this helps.

Yeah, that's not what my leaves look like... I'm working on uploading a picture. :)

Kelley,

I'd be more than happy to help you post pics. Did you get the instructions I emailed you?

I am no use helping you ID plants. Most of the time I don't even know what I am growing until I eat it.

Jo

I used the instructions you emailed me the other day and managed to load a picture, just not embedded in my message. But if you click on the "my mystery plant" link in my last reply, it'll pull up the picture. :)

Kelley,

It may not be a cottonwood tree seedling, but when they sprout at our house, that's what they look like....and the cottonwood 'fluff' was flying around in the air a few weeks ago spreading that seed around.

I've linked an image of a young cottonwood seedling I found by googling. It isn't nearly as healthy-looking as yours, but see how similar they look?

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Young Cottonwood Seedling

That looks like a winner - anyone want to grow a cottonwood tree - I have about 30 seedlings!!!!!

Wow, I never would have guessed that. I just knew that they weren't strawberries!

You can't eat Cottonwood trees, so I don't want them.

Jo

I never would have guessed that, either! Maybe I should move them out to the pasture and let them become the giant, beautiful trees they are meant to be, instead of killing my poor bell pepper plant like they most assuredly will do if I leave all of them in there much longer. I think this is very funny. Not only am I *not* growing strawberries, but I'm not even growing just a weed or some other plant that got labeled as a strawberry. I'm growing TREES. Lots and lots of BIG GIANT TREES! In my little container!! Just goes to show that even the biggest, most powerful things in the world all come from humble beginnings, too.

Kelly, You are almost there and the way you did it is OK especially for people who have dial up.

To imbed it in the msg, put it in your photo saver just as you did and copy the URL just as you did.

In the message you have to identify the URL as the image source. I am going to show you here but I am going to reverse the keys we normally refer to as 'greater than' and 'less than', so you can read them rather than get a picture.

>img src="(insert the URL you copied)"Don't forget to reverse the first and last key.

Kelley,

I have cottonwood trees pop up all over the creek banks and pond banks. I don't let them stay on the pond banks because it is the small pond at the northeastern edge of my garden and I don't need trees there that will eventually shade out my garden.

I did dig up two seedlings a few years ago and plant them in the pasture northwest of and just a bit downhill from the house to give us some shade. We built the house in an old, fallow cow pasture on the highest point of ground on our land which meant there were few trees in that area, though many on lower-lying land just about 20 or 30 yards away.

The cottonwoods have grown like mad, but having them anywhere close to the house is starting to make me nervous, and they're not even "that" close. They are so brittle and shed limbs so easily in high wind. So, I'm thinking of cutting them down now that my oaks and pecans are finally reaching a good size and making decent shade of their own.

I wish insted of planting them where I did, that I'd planted them closer (though not too close) to the detached barn/garage to shade it since it sits in full sun. Maybe I'll check the pond banks for seedlings and move some cottonwoods out back to shade the garage. They sure do grow fast and make great shade trees but their surface roots can cause problems for building foundations and sidewalks, and you don't want them close enough to drop limbs on your house.

If you have a bare spot of ground far from water lines, septic tank lines and buildings and sidewalks, they are lovely majestic shade trees and fast growers.

Dawn

We have a several-acre pasture that would be prime real estate for some of these little trees! :)

Maybe I will take a few and see if they grow in the way back part of my yard (at least 300 ft my house...maybe more).

8 of 10 of my arborday.org seedlings have now bit the dust.

In return, come get some pole bean seeds tomorrow to fill the space they vacate. I just bought the Fortex ones everyone raves about.

Jo

DEAL! The tomato seedling you gave me that I planted in that container died (though 2 out of the 4 of them are still doing well!) so there's plenty of room to put some beans. I'll need some advice on proper pole bean support (because I hear they need alot!)

Jo, when I told my mom the story about identifying my mystery plants, she became horrified at the thought of anything being done with them other than throwing them away. We used to have a cottonwood tree on our property, it turns out, and Dad actually had it cut down because the floating cotton made him so angry. And it's such a bad allergen. When I told her of our plan for me to give you some seedlings, she actually said I am not allowed to do so!!! LOL it was pretty funny - she said she would rather buy you trees than me give you these. It almost sounds like she might not like cottonwood trees, what do you think?

Ah well no trees for me.

WARNING R RATED COMMENT FOLLOWS! DO NOT READ if YOU ARE UNDER 18!

Dave says Cottonwood sounds like a medical condition he would prefer not to have.

Jo

YIKES! LOL

The cottonwood is following Dave. I just yanked several trees out of my asparagus bed.

Jo