Black Cherries Provide Breakfast

This Black Cherry tree provides breakfast for birds. I noticed the branches moving as the birds feasted. These photos came from watching the birds enjoy God's bountiful gift.

Black Cherry

Tree measurements:

Height 56'

Circumference of large stem 52 7/8"

Canopy 47' & 43'

Total Points = 109

Followed the rocky trail to a top of a hill and found this unusual shaped tree. I look for trees that will be interesting to return to. The tree seems to be healthy and will live for many years. This Black cherry was growing among many E. Red cedars. Measuring the canopy was a little prickly as I pushed my way through the cedar branches.

Growth in life comes not by taking it easy. Or complaining about what is wrong or what you disagree with. Growth comes by doing hard things and sticking with the job till you complete it.

Romans 5:3-5 " And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

Trials if endured will bring access to God's love. And God's love brings the answers we are looking for.

Black Cherry

When I came upon this tree I noticed the black cherries. Yet many times these are not there. There also is other ID's of this tree that help you.

The wood of Black cherry is second only to Black walnut in value of furniture or paneling.  The problem of Black cherry as you can see by this tree there are not many large trees that have commercial value. Because of this it would be hard to sell these trees.

The bark I photographed here was not prevalent on the whole tree. I found this one spot that had the ID of horizontal lenticles that are characteristic of this species.

Black Cherry Bark

 Here is a photo of the bark of a young Black Cherry tree. The horrizonal lines are lenticles. These lenticles continue to show up on the bark of mature Black Cherry trees.

Older Black Cherry Bark

Last month I posted a photo of young Black cherry bark. Here is a photo of older Black cherry bark. the younger bark is below.





Psalm 33:6
"By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And by the breath of His mouth all their host."

Black Cherry Bark

Black cherry, Prunus serotina, young bark has characteristic short horizontal lenticles.


John 13:34,35

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

Black Cherry

This is a photo of a Black cherry sapling.


This photo shows one of the ways to ID this tree. The underside of the leaf is hairy by the midrib. Click on the photo to enlarge. You can see the hairs on the midrib near the base of the leaf.

Revisit Tree with Vines

I started my Saturday walk at 7:30 AM with the temperature at 21 degrees. A little bit of sun was showing through the clouds to the east. The were some flurries. Before I went I brushed a little bit of snow off the car windshield for my wife.

Followed the normal trail across the creek I saw a hop hornbeam growing out of the root base of Northern Red oak I took a photo of that.



The bud scales are not finely grooved. they are rounded. This threw me off because that is what a hop hornbeam should have. Hop hornbeam has false end buds. And they were off to the side a little.

The next photo of a tree is taken with red inner bark and it looks like a Black cherry. From the northern Red oak where I saw the Hop hornbeam it is 24 degrees and about 50’ to the red bark tree.



Took a photo of a brush that showed evidence of a vine that squeezed it to grow in a
spiral.



I cut back to the tree that has all the vines growing on it. I wrote about this tree in a previous post. It has a compound leaf tree because I see the leaflet stem still on the twigs at the top of the tree.



The leaf stem is hard to see but click on the photo to enlarge and look at the top of the tree.

Then I came upon a bent over Redbud (took 3 photos) . The cracked stem is characteristic of this happening. Branches are again growing upward from the bent over stem.





Walking up a narrow ridge I took a photo (looking back) of the way the erosion has eaten the ground away.




I came upon some brush which was all mangled when something rubbed up against it but
it was too high for a deer. I don’t see any branch that fell against the brush and caused it. Another enigma.



Coming over the top of the hill and going on down the east side there is a predominance of dominate trees and there is not the brush that is prevalent on the west side.



Vertical bark pattern is interesting of this tree and it is a bur oak. The tree behind that is a white oak and the photo of the leaves on the ground show it is a white oak.






I hiked to the bottom over a couple of gullies and back up. On this side of the ridge I hear a bird chirping in the snow falling. I don’t remember hearing birds earlier today.

The closer of those 2 trees (center of the photo in the background) is a bur oak and the one further away is a Chinquapin.



On the way back we have blue sky. It was snowing a little the whole time I was in the
woods but on the way back the sky has broken up and the snow has stopped. Nothing
accumulated.

Again, hiking in the woods allows my heart to feast on the goodness of God. "How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!" Romans 11:33