Favorite Tree?

[lxskllr]

What kind of tree you all like? I guess for the purposes of this discussion it can be interpreted any way you like. Wood, a living tree, dead tree, fruits/nuts...

I love oak. AFAIC, it's the king of trees. Huge, long lived, attractive shape, and a good home for critters. I also like the wood for creating objects. I especially like the old government issue office furniture that was always solid oak. The open grain is attractive, and it takes a beating well, gaining character as it ages.

My father liked walnut. I don't get it. The wood's kind of bland. and black walnuts are terrible to use as food. The nut tastes too strong, and they're almost impossible to open. My father had to go to hospital twice with burned hands from shelling walnuts. He had a bad reaction to a chemical in the husks. I have them all over the property courtesy of the tree rats  :^D

[thecfarm]

Good question.
I have butternut here. Only 3-4,but my father would always talk about them.
And the snag barh hickory too. Only have a clump of 3 of them. Than there is the elm tree coming up what is the driveway now,use to be the woods road. The cherries trees has died. But there are a few more growing as crooked as they can. Can't forget the big rock maple that shaded the farmhouse.Really these few trees got all the attention on The Farm.

[lxskllr]

I don't have a keen grasp of hickory. I see them in the woods on jobs, but I guess I don't pay particular attention. For job site trees, I really like beech. They get some interesting shapes, and the smooth bark is nice. Close to civilization, they can accumulate a nice collection of graffiti carved into the bark. I like to imagine the people from 1972, and wonder what they're up to today, and if Tina still loves Mark  :^D

[Southside]

My favorite would be the one that a customer is paying me for.  After that I don't know that I have a favorite but I do have an appreciation and soft spot for Eastern Red Cedar.  Such an under appreciated tree in this area, and so slow to grow, provides food and shelter, along with beautiful lumber.  On my own land I do everything I can to avoid harvesting them.  

[lxskllr]

ERC is nice. My favorite native conifer. I have them lining my driveway. I transplanted them from job sites. I have a dead one I brought home from work. It had a really neat shape, but the limbs have broken off beating around over the years. It's on the front porch now, but I used to have it propped up in a corner in the house.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Either white oak or dogwood. White oak is big straight grained. durable wood, with good food for assorted wildlife. Dogwood is great for most all wildlife. It is the first thing to bloom in the spring, make a great little shade tree, has pretty red berries/fruit up into the winter, is strong forgiving wood if you to climb one and it never gets big enough to fall on and damage your house when planted as a yard tree.

[petefrom bearswamp]

Mine is of course the Family Tree
My second is the Sugar maple

[SawyerTed]

I love oaks for their shade and wood for lumber and firewood.  Hickory, Apple, Pecan, Peach and Cherry for their flavors in BBQ.  Peaches are my favorite fruit.  Altlantic White Cedar is a favorite because of their aroma and rarity.  Eastern Red Cedar is always a favorite even though they grow like weeds here.  Tulip Poplar is one of my favorite trees to saw.  I love maples for their brilliant fall colors!

[lxskllr]

Small poplar is super satisfying to cut with a machete. Straight through with one strike. They also make good survey stakes when they're flawless. Hard and light. When flawed, they break easily.

[florida]

Cypress, nothing I love better than a nice cypress head full of bald and pond cypress. Always remind me of Japanese bonsai

 

[Texas Ranger]

Any of the trees I planted, I know, but it is a forester thing.

[firefighter ontheside]

For me it's conifers of almost any species.  I'm not too fond of ERC trees, but I love the wood.  My house is built of red pine from Minnesota.  I live among a stand of loblally and shortleaf pine that were planted about 60 years ago.  I have one that's about 40" diameter.  I brought home sugar pine cones from a fire that I went to in California.  Those are awesome cones.  Of course seeing the sequoia in Yosemite was awesome.  Give me. Nice spruce or fir or pine and I'm happy.  Oak trees don't do anything for me, but I'm happy to cut them into great lumber.

[Pulphook]

ASH --the only one that can be burnt semi green.
Unfortunately the EAB is killing them.

[alan gage]

Being from the heart of the tall grass prairie region (not that there's really any of it left) I have a soft spot for Bur Oak. Unfortunately instead of the wide crowned examples that used to grow on the open savanna most now grow in heavily forested (but narrow) riparian areas along the river where they're forced to grow up instead of out.

But once in a while you'll see a beautiful example growing out away from the crowd. And it's always a treat to be walking through the relatively young forest and suddenly come across a big old bur oak with low wide spreading branches that was old and established before the rest of the trees sprung up. The young trees have to give it a wide berth if they want any sunlight of their own so it's like a little clearing.

Haven't had a chance to mill any yet but I've got about 35 logs waiting for spring. Hard to get a good log over 12' with a lot of them 8' and under.

Alan

[moodnacreek]

In a perfect world, American chestnut but in the real world its Atlantic white cedar.

[John Mc]

I've always been partial to Shagbark Hickory, mainly because I can still remember my dad pointing it out to me one winter when I was about 9 years old, as we were skating along the Ottawa River near Toledo, Ohio. I still remember that day whenever I see one. I've only got a few of them on my property here in VT. Several of them died a few years ago, all in the same year. I'm not sure what got them, but the rest seem to be doing OK.

[John Mc]

In a perfect world, American chestnut but in the real world its Atlantic white cedar.

I've been waiting for years for the blight-resistant American Chestnut that the American Chestnut Foundation has been developing to become more readily available. I can't wait to plant a few on my property.

[BradMarks]

A stand of orangish bark Ponderosa and white bark Quaking Aspen. Okay it's two trees but really pretty.

[Stephen1]

The big EWP that I have in my area. I love the monsters that are tall and are growing on the bare rock . I am amazed on how they last.

[SwampDonkey]

Butternut here, I have planted lots of the nuts. Next is sugar maple. Sugar maple is like a sacred tree around here for the fall color.  I have seen maple with just a single live limb left on people's lawns. They won't cut them down until they are stubs. :D

Three different sugar maples, all different colors.

Full color of a sugar maple canopy - YouTube

[lxskllr]

I have seen maple with just a single live limb left on people's lawns. They won't cut them down until they are stubs. :D

I have a weeping cherry out front that's all but dead. I've cut most of it off, the bark's missing, and it has carpenter ants, but it's gonna stay as long as it turns green in the spring. That was my daughter's favorite tree, so I'll keep it as long as there's a bit of life left  :^)

[lxskllr]

Oh, too soon to tell at this point, but I've been really hot on dawn redwoods. I picked up a couple for my property, and once they get some size, I'm gonna propagate them via cutting, and spread them around. I got the idea from here I think. Someone mentioned giant sequoia in England. Never occurred to me I could have something like that outside PNW. Looking them up led me to dawn redwoods. I'll have a better chance of seeing those grow to spectacular size, and I can get them locally. One of my two is especially pretty with its fall colors. I'm hoping it lasts, and isn't simply due to youth.

[moodnacreek]

Oh, too soon to tell at this point, but I've been really hot on dawn redwoods. I picked up a couple for my property, and once they get some size, I'm gonna propagate them via cutting, and spread them around. I got the idea from here I think. Someone mentioned giant sequoia in England. Never occurred to me I could have something like that outside PNW. Looking them up led me to dawn redwoods. I'll have a better chance of seeing those grow to spectacular size, and I can get them locally. One of my two is especially pretty with its fall colors. I'm hoping it lasts, and isn't simply due to youth.
Every so often I get to saw one into lumber, people have them removed because they get so big.

[Maine372]

sugar maple, locally called rock maple.

aesthetic shape, fall colors, stubborn as a mule (ive seen them split in half and still growing), excellent fire wood, strong beautiful grain, and did I mention syrup?!

its the tree that can keep a logger busy through mud season!

yard tree or woods tree, firewood or furniture, they are just the best!

[scgargoyle]

White oak is a favorite, but my favorite individual tree is a little beech I call 'Dave', for the buddy that helped me get it. I have a huge variety of trees on our land, but didn't have a beech, even though they are common here. Dave and I went out in his woods to get me one. The land was so full of rocks and roots that we couldn't dig it up, so we ended up just yanking it out of the ground. I found a good spot behind the barn and planted it with little hope it would survive. It never even slowed down; been growing fast and strong for 5 years, and I go out every winter and clear the competing brush away. Someday, long after Dave and I are worm food, there will be a big handsome beech tree there.

[Klunker]

I do love an old Burr Oak grown in the open as they should be. My favorite tho? No.

I have lots of Sugar Maple, a nice tree but a bit of a weed to me, in the end if nothing is done I know my woodlot will be almost nothing but Sugar Maples so I'm OK with them but definitely not my favorite.

Quaking Aspen, or Popple as they are called in these parts are one of my favorites in Northern WI where they grow like weeds after clear cutting. They usually will show us where the Grouse and Woodcock are. So I have a soft spot for them as one of my favorite things on a nice October day is bird hunting. But as I live in S. WI where there are lots better trees down here than the lowly Popple.

Speaking of N. Wi there is also some other trees that I do like, the Hemlock and Yellow Birch. When they reach significant size they are impressive trees. But both fall short as a favorite.

Eastern White Pine grows in my county, primarily in the northen half and along the lake shore. An old mature White Pine that has flattened it crown against the sky is a lovely sight. The sound the wind makes as it slides thru the needles is magic. The needles are long and soft giving the tree a pleasing appearance. For me its in the top 5 of favorite trees but not the top one.

Tamarack or Eastern Larch to some is unique tree. The only conifer to loose its needles in the fall. They are common in the low wet swampy ares in So. Wi. Places that I have spent many a Nov. day sitting and waiting for a ripe Buck. In fact I had a stand that was no more than a log laying against a large Tamarack tree that I leaned against as I waited. I shot a nice 8 Point buck from this spot one magical warm sunny Nov. day. It was a magic place carpeted in a dull golden needles and moss. The late fall sun warmed my face and its was as close to perfect as a day as I know. So for this reason I do like the Tamarack. But again, its not my favorite.

Shagbark Hickory,  a large portion of my woodlot is dominated right now by Hickories. They are great for feeding the local Squirrel population. I have spent a few hours cracking the almost impenetrable fortress that is a Hickory nut for my Mom to add to her homemade fudge. But to me they are a rough looking customer that garners admiration but no love from me.

Ironwood is another tree that while its dense heavy wood is the best thing I can find in my woodlot to burn to heat my house I don't love them. They are small in size tree, always seen growing in the shade of others. I have a couple of larger Ironwoods in my woodlot, they are full of knobs that stick out where branches used to grow giving them an odd look. And often they are hollow and have holes in the bottom. A good chunk of the Ironwoods I cut are hollow in the bottom foot or two. They  almost always are packed with Hickory nuts from chipmunks and mice.

Another tree that deserves Honorable mention is Cherry, it never seems to grow straight and I can't think of a more beautiful wood. But its not my favorite.

But I guess that if I had to pick one for my favorite it would be the American Beech. I love its smooth grey bark, it leaves are unique and beautiful in the fall and they hang on well into the winter most of the time.

[lxskllr]

Thoughtful analysis Klunker. Ironwood's like the anti poplar for machete work. You look at, and think "this'll be easy" crank the machete, and the handle rebounds after hitting the tree, wracking your knuckles, and doing little damage to the tree. Beech is terrible to cut too. It holds on to every little limb with all it's got. They rebound away with little damage, and sometimes one of his buddies smacks you upside the head for making the attempt  :^D

[Babylon519]

A wise parent was asked if they have a 'favourite' child. The parent said "yes, the one that needs me most today". 

So my favourite tree is the Ash, a tall, stalwart, straight-grained beauty. Easy drying, splitting and burning to boot. But it's being wiped out by a bug. In my bush, the Ash is my sick kid, and my favourite one today!  
 


 

- Jason

[timberlinetree]

 

 

 

 

 big shaggy, Christmas tree,  and a " New England  coconut :D"

[Roxie]

Sycamore. 



 

 

[Pulphook]

Why oh why are all the best firewood trees south of us ?
Here are some oaks, some ash now EAB dying, few locust, few Hard/Rock Maple, few Beech also diseased, fewer yellow birch.
We burn what we got: Red/soft maple, Paper/White Birch.
Even further north like Alaska and Nunavit, fewer good hardwoods. Oh why ? :'( ( Yes, latitude...but )

[Bogue Chitto]

 
Ginkgo tree

[SwampDonkey]

We burn what we got: Red/soft maple, Paper/White Birch.
Even further north like Alaska and Nunavit, fewer good hardwoods. Oh why ? :'( ( Yes, latitude...but )

I am getting good heat off spruce, box elder, larch, red pine, white birch that I gathered when getting the building site ready. Just yard trees. Burns as long as rock maple actually. I wouldn't buy it, but it's warm. ;D

[aaronc]

American elm.

[Don P]

A friend is the shade of a lone white oak on a hot day

[CX3]

A good ridge full of 20" white oaks and a tree stand in one of them

[Magicman]

10 days and I continue to agonize over this question.   :P   I still do not have an answer.  :

A great majority of my sawing income comes from SYP.  The most valuable trees on my property are Cherrybark Oak.  The species that I love to hate sawing is ERC.  The greatest joy sawing is Tulip "Poplar".  I hates Sweetgum.

[Southside]

Well, this is my favorite individual tree. It is an ERC that lives in the crotch of a wild cherry, it might grow a quarter an inch a year in height, the trunk is smaller than a pencil, and it has been here for a number of years, can't imagine what the growth rings would look like.  The host cherry has it's issues but I keep trying to make her live. If she goes I plan to rescue the little ERC. 



 

[brianJ]

Elm made a great street tree back when I was a kid.   Miss them more than I do the ash that left

[Guydreads]

For firewood American Oak. Straight grain, amazing firewood. For shape probably a maple. Nothing specific