Bitternut Hickory with Sapings

Bitternut hickory with sucker saplings. The mowers let these saplings grow here. My guess is the area was not mowed for a while and then as the trees got bigger the mowers went around them.

Psalm 40:1-3 "I waited patiently for the Lord;

And He inclined to me and heard my cry.

2 He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,

And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.

3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;

Many will see and fear

And will trust in the Lord."

Father you have delivered me and I rejoice. Thank you so much for life and purpose.

Dead Sucker

Here is an American Elm tree that is overshadowed by an oak in the background. The sucker that took off from the base died and is about to fall because it has rotted long ago. Many times a branch will die because it is not getting enough light.

When a branch needs to be supplied by the rest of the tree to survive the tree will just let it die. Each branch needs to produce enough for its substance  and give some to the rest of the tree as well.

Christians are asked to produce fruit in John 15. If after a reasonable time the branch does not produce fruit they are cut off and thrown into the fire.

Let us not be dead wood, but fruitful for the kingdom of God.

John 15:2
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

John 15:6
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

Unusual Tree Sucker

Here is an interesting tree I found that had a sucker growing out of the stump. Further up the tree it becomes incorporated back into the main bowl of the tree.