Cecily, yes, that's definitely tall for a Virginia pine. Here's a pretty tall one near me in Rocky Gap St park (Md).

And a rather tall Table Mnt pine near but just outside the park.

It looks like I missed answering comments/questions from diggerdee above.

That immense tree in one of Honolulu's little neighborhood parks is an Earpod (how's that for botany foreseeing the future?) - Enterolobium cyclocarpum. Across the street (behind the white car) is a school. Imagine the generations of kids that have grown up there with that behemoth to climb in.

The big trunked tree with the gentleman and the 4 board horse fence was the national champion Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa) at Indian Creek Farm in Bourbon County KY - with Guy Sternberg leaning on it. That was back in fall 2000, when a group of intrepid International Oak Society members were trekking from Illinois to North Carolina for the triennial IOS conference in Asheville. They stopped off in this little corner of the central Kentucky Bluegrass not far from where I live to see the then-champion Bur Oak AND the then-champion Chinkapin Oak (Quercus muehlenbergii) which was in nearby Powell County.

It's BIG, too...

Perhaps I'm not the only one who finds roots interesting. This is/was a big ole tulip poplar.

Bourbon County KY

uhhmmm... wonder what they make there.. lol ...

oak society.. now thats a new one on me...

any idea how old that burr oak is.. in the pic above???

ken

ps: whiskey is whiskey.. its scotch if made in scotchlandia.... its bourbon is made in bourbanlandia.. and the rest of us drink whiskey.. go figure on that ... my brother got me a bottle of raspberry paczki vodka the other day ....lol... and in case you dont know what a paczki is... they are made in punclandia.. lol .. any polish neighborhood around... they look like this:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=paczki&t=ffab&iax=images&ia=images

norleans does mardi gras.. the poles do jelly filled donuts.. both are done to extremes the day before lent starts .... or at least that used to be the excuse for wanton over indulgence ... and God knows what possessed a local distillery to make a donut flavored raspberry vodka... yikes.... lol..

and God also knows how the pronunciation ..punch-key came out of that spelling ... maybe junkie knows ...

BUT I DIGRESS ... do ya think.... lol

William Faulkner, methinks...

@Ken- pronounced poonch key (or pownch key) it is the plural form of paczek (poon check). The plural is used because nobody eats just one. There is a diacritical mark under the ”a” (ogonek) which gives it that nasally pronunciation. pączki

tj

They call them malasadas in Honolulu...

I'm no historian, but I'm a buff.

Bourbon County Kentucky is sure named after the stuff...the House of Bourbon in France, back in the day, when Kentucky was just a twinkle in Virginia's eye.

Bourbon County in KY is where Elijah Craig supposedly originated the spirit, whose quality was based in the fine limestone spring waters - same ones that inspire the Thoroughbreds here to develop excellent bones and strength for racing because they forage on limestone-based soils and drink from the spring-fed creeks. Paradoxically, Bourbon County had long been a dry county - no alcohol sales.

https://bourboncoky.info/

I would've thought everyone here was aware of the International Oak Society, as Guy Sternberg had been a centerpiece on these GardenWeb threads - back in the day...

That big old Bur Oak - like many of his cohorts that were not harvested during European settlement due to some defect or another, or just being too big to fool with - have been estimated to be 300 - 500 years old. Often, they have quite a hollow center, so original ring evidence is missing.

Others who favor such factuals as the flavors of aforementioned spirits may want to quibble more with ken about the origins and differences in such things as Scots Whisky, Bourbon, Irish Whiskey, Tennessee Sippin' Whiskey, etc. I think it has to do with the proportions of ingredients, and what else you do during the fermentation and distillation process. It's not just where it happens. But it does have a lot to do with Oak Barrels...

https://vinepair.com/articles/20-most-popular-whiskey-brands-america-2018/

And as a pure-bred Pole (but not a taxonomist), my dad would have taken umbrage with you about casually lumping his culture together based on a food or two. Them would be fighting words, and Dad had some really big hands (Wisconsin dairy farm born and raised).

@cecily 7A: isn't that a little radically extreme extent with which to go to just to entertain your root interest? Your consort there seems quite smugly satisfied with his handiwork...

Thanks, VV, for the history. At Thomas Jefferson's home in Monticello (VA) where I toured, they had made beer and wine -- not sure about whiskey (G. Washington did I think). Quite a botanist -- grew figs successfully on a south-facing slope in addition to many other trees and shrubs. Place is up high on a hill where he knew late/early damaging frost was less common (and provided an impressive view).

Those are some very twiggy trees -- oaks I'd guess.

may want to quibble more with ken

==

i are a pole also.. and your dad and me.. and my dad no doubt.. would have got along just fine over a bottle of vodka.. not that demon brew whiskey.. regardless of where it was dripped out of a still ... long live the potato as a alcohol base.. lol ...

which of course was my original point.. a vodka flavored with bakery goods. ....

of course.. as tree peeps ... i suppose we all ought to be onto gin .. and its relations with juniper ...

https://www.singgin.com/juniper-in-gin-whats-the-story/

as a boy can dream about it being a hundred degrees.. and sitting on the porch with a gin and tonic ...

which lead to waste 5 minutes wondering who or why quinine was ever added to tonic.. and found this.. go figure.. another TREE involved ... i mean really.. gin and tonic should be the drink of foresters everywhere.. lol ..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonic_water : As early as the 17th century the Spanish used quinine from the bark of Cinchona trees to treat malaria

ken

i think ill move this to its own post .. the gin part

VV, that's a really impressive Chinkapin Oak you posted a few days ago. Apparently the new national champion Chinkapin oak is in Ohio, southeast of Columbus. The largest Chinkapin oak in Michigan (which I've seen) is in a park in Ann Arbor - next time I'm there I'll try to get a photo. I'm curious if you've ever seen the national champion Shingle Oak near Louisville? In the winter photos of that tree (including the one below) it appears to be cleanly deciduous, which seems odd. I don't think I've ever seen a shingle oak that didn't hold at least some of its leaves through the winter.

Here's a very light barked "sycamore" (actually a planetree) I drove by the other day

@arbordave (SE MI): I'll answer you when I get home.

Meanwhile...what are the odds???

Talk about learning something new. Thanks, @ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5Z5 !!!

Who's talking about being Polish here? 3 out of 4 of my Grandparents were born in Poland. All were of Polish ancestry. They all lived in Chicago. Not sure if I could do the Polish Hop these days, but I sure did it at weddings! Just play the "Beer Barrel Polka" and the whole room would rise up and pound the floor!

-Babka

@arbordave (SE MI): yes, indeed - I've been by to admire the national champion Shingle Oak (Quercus imbricaria) in Louisville. Remarkably, it is just down the street from the national champion Blue Ash (Fraxinus quadrangulata) that I was fortunate enough to discover and nominate, in the Mockingbird Valley neighborhood. There are quite a few other large specimen trees around that area.

There must be something in the water...

I seem only to have photos of it from April 2021 and November 2022 (shown), all of which show leaves. I will endeavor to pop by there (just off my daily commute) and take some current images to see what level of marcescence is evident.

I agree with the sentiment that most all Shingle Oak trees of any age seem to have long persistent old foliage. I don't have this species at the Valley; don't know why - perhaps this will be a prompt. Maybe grow out some seedlings from the champ...

I have been following the behavior of a couple Shingle Oak trees that I had planted in Cherokee Park near Willow Pond back in 1998. On a recent walk through last July, one of these trees had remarkably glossy clean leaves, far more so than I can recall on other Quercus imbricaria.

I'll check that one for marcescence, too.

VV, thanks for posting the photos. That tree in Cherokee Park does have nice glossy foliage. The shingle oaks I've observed generally do have clean, glossy leaves, and I think the species would be more popular if it didn't hold on to so many (brown) leaves through the winter. Sawtooth oak has the same issue (we planted a small number of them years ago). I've heard that Sawtooths can be invasive farther south, but they don't seem to be here.

Saw these winter "structures" when I was walking the trail down by the river a couple days ago. Probably won't be any heron activity in these for another month or two.

Get thee to a rookery...

Thanks VV for the shingle oaks pics. They have IMO the densest & most handsome oak foliage. Couple streamside near me.

Wates Golden Virginia pine w/Table Mountain pine to right.

Voted "Mostly Likely To Not Be Recognized As Oaks"!

Here is NatChamp this morning...

Clean - but this IS mid February.

I know there's no mistaking another of these trees.

Love how it stands out against the blue sky.

Went for a walk at a Park near town here, yesterday.

Not deciduous or marcescent.

Hard to believe anything would be evergreen this far north. ;-)

VV, excellent photos, thanks for taking a detour and getting those for us. Someone should propagate that tree, especially if it consistently drops its foliage for the winter. I can't tell for sure - is that a southern magnolia to the right (foreground) in the 1st photo?

old_dirt, very nice sycamore - where is that one located?

BillMN, looks like something's going on with the top of that pine, was it damaged?

I drove by this healthy English walnut last week. Not all provenances of this species are fully hardy here.

Yep,

Lower right of the second picture is part of the top that somehow broke off. That one's going downhill, age?

VV, yes, the shingle oak is very branchy (numerous thin branches), not like the white-type oaks. Old pin oaks are also, if they live long enough.

arbordave (SE MI) - The sycamore is at Van Raalte Farm Park near Holland, MI. There are 3 or 4 of them there that I know of.

Several trees on my lot, all planted by me around 18 yrs ago except the sugar maple which was already here.

Seed-grown baldcypress, the biggest of 13 of them since it gets the most light. Some knees visible around the base.

Katsuratree. I'm surprised that it's so fastigiate. A vigorous grower.

Biggest sugar maple among 3 that were already here. Massive, spreading root-crown at the base. Hard to guess age, but I'd say 50-70 yrs old.

Noticed this Oak on the edge of my property, never realized it kept its leaves so long, making it a Pin Oak or Northern Pin Oak. What is the difference in the Pin Oak and Northern Pin Oak.? This tree is a minimum of 50 years old.- Ottawa County, SW Michigan.

old_dirt, my impression is that the two can be difficult to distinguish. Northern Pin (aka Hill's Oak) generally grows on drier upland sites and tolerates somewhat higher pH, while Pin Oak is typically found in poorly drained more acidic locations. I have wild Pin Oaks in my backyard where the soil is seasonally wet (but often quite dry by mid to late summer), and not all that acidic. Most years my trees are cleanly deciduous, but there are many wild Pin Oaks in my local area (that otherwise look exactly like mine) that hold some of their leaves through the winter. I’ve heard that Northern Pin is supposed to have more potential for reddish fall color. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed good fall color on any of the local Pin Oaks. Northern Pin can hybridize with Black Oak in our region.

Thanks for the location on that sycamore. I don't get over that way (Holland area) very often, but that park looks like a great place to visit. I see that there is also a "Paw Paw Park" about a mile to the north - have you visited that one? I'm assuming wild pawpaws grow there.

Photo below (2/14/23) of a shingle oak that we planted in one of our parks.

arbordave - Thank you - Paw Paw park is just a couple miles from my house, I've been there several times. Not sure if there are any paw paw trees there but it is located along Paw Paw Drive. I assume at one time there must have been some in that area.

Bill, exposed, tall white pines often get their tops broken. There's been a spate of white pines being broken, even uprooted, in my nearby-area woods, usually when their tops are above the surrounding canopy. They usually die after being broken. A number of them that were 120 ft tall nearby when I first moved here are snapped, dead snags.

Sad but true.

I took this picture when visiting the 'Lost Forty', a MN SNA (scientific and natural area) where they don't allow trees to be cut. The tree is ~400 years old, which is the upper age limit for this species of tree. Weakened by age, this one went down in a storm several years ago.

Here's Another P. Stobus, 0nce 'State Champion White Pine' before the top broke off in a storm (Itasca Park).

So many beautiful trees.

This is along a hiking trail near me. The snow is so deep I can't get off the packed path to get full pics.

Hard maple wolf tree.

I had to look up the name 'Wolf Tree'. Quite interesting how they came to be, after growing solitary in fields, years ago. :-)

I was told, back in time, when logging was done by real men :^), lumberjacks would leave a half grown Red or White pine here or there, 'For Seed', thinking reforestation.

In later years those trees have become the largest and most magnificent trees in the forest.

I have what I believe is one of them, >100 yo, growing on land out in the country. This picture was taken 7 years ago and imo was left behind because of the imperfection of forkedness.

Pinus resinosa.

Q. virginiana. Somewhere in S. Cakalacky last April (was still winter back home).

Perfect day for a walk down the lane by the hemlock grove (2/26/23)

One of the larger hemlocks in the stand

That's one nice Tsuga, dave! One of my favorite trees.

Here's a couple (oaks?) today along the ski trail at Blacks grove 2-26-2023.

Just had to get out into the fresh air.

Oak Creek:

:-)

Bill, your middle tree doesn't branch like an oak, more elm-like. Not sure what it is tho.

Thanks!.

There are some big Elms I've noticed around there so I'm sure that's a distinct possibility. I see a lot of Tila in that area too.

not enough damage on it to be an elm .. lol.. looks more like a silver maple to me..

ken

Yes, the multiple trunks would be one indicator of SM.

I was sucking air by the time we came upon these trees, so quickly snapped some pictures without doing any close examination. lol

Thought I would have a try……took a walk yesterday and saw these:

I think this is a Magnolia, buds are already there

A neighbor’s tree, wondered about what is hanging

This is my Weeping Pussywillow Tree, getting it’s buds

My Acer Tamukeyama with buds too

debra

Photos taken at Caledon State Park in the tidewater region of Virginia on February 28. For scale, the holly in the second photo is about ten feet tall.

What are those? ^^^ Cherry? apple?

magnolia soulangeana

Pics from neighbor's lot on hill above me. Cucumber magnolia (Magnolia acuminata) and a very tall white pine w/an ominous leeward lean in it.

As mentioned, white pines are being broken in this local area. Here's a broken, dead snag of one very close to previous pic.

Basswood "sprout" (Tilia americana) w/3 trunks. Good sprouters from a cut stump, and almost certain that's the case here. My lot is below across road.

You won't see any new sprouts on a P. strobus once the green bearing part at the top breaks off.

Oh! Ha Ha, we, uh needless to say do not have magnolia around here. Exquisite

A snowy landscape here this morning after a "thundersnow" event last night. I heard some branches breaking in the distance, but thankfully we didn't lose power. With the bright sunshine and temps slightly above freezing it's now beginning to melt away. This is my Homestead Buckeye in the backyard 3/4/23

what was bent nearly to the ground in the ice storm a few days ago.. with a lot of severe breakage... again got bent to the ground after this wet sticky snow.. we got about 8 inches .... nothing more broke this time..

im out 2800 dollars for removal of two and a half trees ... ouch .. and 4 arbs ....

i noticed driving around town after the last ice storm.. that none of the giants i had pictured way above in this post .... . showed much of any damage.. maybe that is how they got to be a hundred plus years old..... and 60 plus feet tall ... go figure...

ken