Woods for Devotions

Here was a place I stopped to have devotions. Yes there are bugs and humidity and heat but sometimes God and nature just is the thing to do to quiet my heart and hear.

Flowers

Wolf Tree Charateristics

Here is a short bowled Chinquapin oak that is located in a forest with wolf tree characteristics.

A wolf tree is a tree that branches out early. These trees grow in open areas and do not have to grow tall to beat the competition.

But this tree is growing in the middle of a forest and has competition to contend with. It is my thinking that at one time the bluff that it is growing on was cleared of trees and this tree dominated the area.

Box Elder Maple

Here is photos of the leaf, seeds and trunk of a Box Elder maple

More Deer Photos

Black Willow Tree

Brown Eyed Susan Field

Turtle

Here is a turtle that just came out of some duck weed infested pond water.

River Birch

Here is a close up of a young River birch bark. The small horizontal lines are lenticles. They allow gas exchange in the tree.

River Birch

More interesting photos of River birch.

River Birch

River birch has interesting bark, which flakes off.

River Birch

Here is a close up of a River birch leaf.

River Birch

River birch has some varities such as Heritage River birch that are improvements from the wild tree.

Since I live outside of the range or River birch I am asuming that what I see planted in parks and along streets is Heritage River birch. What are the differences between the 2 trees?

Here is a link to a guide to Birch trees.

River birch is planted less often in landscapes but is stronger and healther tree against disease and insects. The bark is an attractive feature pealing in long strips down the bole of the tree. These strips are darker in color than the bark of other birches.

River birch can survive better than normal in acidic soils. For this reason River birch has been planted in strip mine reclamation areas.

Here is a good site on growing and caring for a Birch tree.

Brown Eyed Susan's

Recent photos of Brown Eyed Susan's

New Oak End Buds

Here is a photo of Post Oak showing the end of the twig. Oaks usually have a bunch of buds on the end of the twig.

Wildflower

This could be Campanula americana

The plant is common and flowers June to September.

Our Backyard Sunflowers

Trumpet Vine Campsis radicans

This vine is also called Trumpet Creeper, Devil's shoelaces, shoestrings, hell vine, cow itch vine.

Campsis radicans is the scientific

name.

Agressive plant able to reprout easily. I had this in my back yard for a while. It is a little bit hard to get rid of but not impossible. It really is quite attracive and if fast growing.