What's your favourite tree?
What's your favourite tree?
And why do you like it so much?
I don't think its very common in the US but The pōhutukawa tree
The pōhutukawa tree is a special part of New Zealand culture, often called the "New Zealand Christmas tree" because of its bright red flowers that bloom in December. It’s seen as a symbol of strength and resilience, especially since it grows along rugged coastlines. For Māori, it has deep spiritual meaning—there's even an ancient pōhutukawa at Cape Reinga where spirits are believed to begin their journey to the afterlife. Plus, it’s great for the environment, providing food and shelter for native birds and insects.
2I've got three and I've been trying to grow each from seed:
- Dawn Redwood because it has an incredible backstory, it is a true redwood contrary to popular belief, and It easily grows where I'm at.
- Giant Sequoia because they are massive, it is also a true redwood, and it can allegedly grow where I'm at.
- Cedar of Lebanon because I grew up in one of the many U.S. towns of Lebanon named for the trees as referenced in that religious book and I remember the original Cedar of Lebanon referenced in that story I linked.
Unfortunately, I can't get the Giant Sequoias past a few inches tall while even acknowledging their infamous 20% germination rate. The Cedar of Lebanon seeds I can't even get to germinate but I also haven't found as much academic literature on cultivating them from seeds.
Shoutout to the Ginkgo Biloba for being one of the OG trees, also.
5Balanced binary tree
Real answer: Japanese maple and willows
1
Scots pine
6Dogwood. Hidden away under the canopy, reaching out and up to find sunshine in the PNW rain forest. Beautiful white spring flowers.
After leaving my beloved PNW when I was 12 to move to smoggy searing Los Angeles and missing the green and rain for 45 years, I'm back. We just bought a dogwood for the backyard. So excited for spring.
3So anyway, I love those dark maples with the leaves that are so blue they're almost black in certain light. I call them goth maples.
Picture:
30Oh wow it's about as close as you can get
27
Japanese Maple. Had one by the front door of the house I grew up in. Reminds me of my childhood home.
19Oh the colors
3
Willows. They feel so incredibly relaxed, like they just don't give a shit.
13Bending in the wind like a ballerina
2
Birch!
They’re just so beautiful!
13Plus birch beer is awesome
3People used to make all kinds of stuff from the bark, too
2And from the wood. It's a hardwood but it's often used where softwoods would be. Baltic birch plywood is some excellent stuff.
2
I used to live in a rickety flat that had a single old creaky staircase to get up to the front door, and a little grassy terrace area. Only I really ever used the grassy bit. The stairs had a pohutakawa tree growing essentially right through them, making walking up or down them hazardous. Especially when drunk.
I would not classify that period of my life to be "happy" by any stretch, but that tree signified being "home." It was like the guardian to my space. A physical barrier between me and the shitshow that was the rest of the world at that time. An almost literal gatekeeper (many people were too scared to walk up the stairs lol)
Added bonus, year end holidays, and the height of summer were vividly and brightly different thanks to the red needles they drop everywhere around that time.
It wasn't until the landlord told me he was planning to have it cut down, and I had an almost physical reaction that I realized how much I loved that tree. I managed to convince him not to have it cut down until after I'd left.
Both the tree and the flat are now gone. A multi million dollar new build is there now.
13Both the tree and the flat are now gone. A multi million dollar new build is there now.
SO PISSED AT THIS. God the company men...
3So am I honestly, but to be fair, that place was a dump.
The foundations were subsiding, so the whole flat was on a pretty significant lean. I'm not exaggerating when I say it was easily 5 degrees off level. Think Lilly and Marshall's apartment in HIMYM.
The building itself was 3 stories. I was on 2nd, and the 3rd was completely uninhabitable due to the roof being swiss cheese. I knew I was about to get kicked out when the ceiling started leaking in my bedroom whenever it rained.
I could go on and on. The electrics were sketchy, my toilet leaked into the downstairs kitchen, etc etc etc. It really was trash, and would have probably cost millions to repair.
The tree itself was causing structural issues as well. It's hard to explain, so I've attached an aerial view. (You might need to view it on my instance.) The grey line was a concrete retaining wall for the grassy terrace thing. You can see that the tree was right up against the house, further damaging it. I've also tried to illustrate what it was doing to the stairs so you can get an idea of what it was like.
All in all, I understand why it had to go, but it still makes me sad. And not just because the flat was so cheap I could afford to live by myself in my 20s, 5 minutes from the CBD
1
I've read 500 page novels that have touched me less than these 5 paragraphs.
Thank you for sharing this story.
6
Weeping willow trees. We had one at my childhood home. When it was sold, the new owners tore it out. I was very sad.
11Don't worry, it's back. Those things refuse to die.
2I am fairly certain there are no trees on the property anymore. I don't know what they had against trees, but they tore out everything!
3
Everything about the Gingko tree is pretty cool
10It really is a cool tree, but man, having to walk near fallen gingko nuts every day during the autumn is kind of torture.
7
Weeping Willow!
9Love me a magnolia tree
8The walnut tree. Its leaves are dense so it casts a cohesive shadow, perfect for shelter from the sun. I LOVE how it smells, especially when developing walnuts, and green walnuts are entirely unique in how they taste!
8American Chestnut. Have a few seedlings we planted in the front yard. Super excited to be part of the process of restoring them
6Redbud. It's got such pretty blossoms and the leaves are a really pleasing shape.
6It's the State tree of Oklahoma. When my neighbors' redbud starts making pods, I'm gonna snag a bunch, refrigerate them over winter, then scarify and try to get a few to germinate the following spring. It takes probably 5 or so years to start getting flowers, but I really love everything about these trees, not just their awesome flowers. The heart shaped leaves they develop in summer are so cute.
3
Mango tree!! 🥭🌳
It's big, it provides plenty of shades, it's unassuming, and most importantly it has mangoes!!
6Apple tree, cause cider beer is amazing (the dry stuff like Strongbow)
1This is a really great answer. Concise, listed, and checks all the boxes. Kudos.
3
Number three…
The larch.
6Fiddy.
Not too expensive.
6About three fiddy?
5*tree fiddy
2
Despite being really really invasive here in Europe, I love the Staghorn Sumac.
It's very pretty, with great flowers and soft furry branches (like antlers). You can make an amazing "lemonade" from the fruits and you can eat the shoots raw.
And eating the shoots raw is a great idea, because it branches out like crazy. If your neighbors have one of these, you'll soon have half a dozen too.
They also grow pretty fast, and the wood is super pretty (and super curvy, so you won't be making any boards out of it)
5I'll keep my eyes open for those next spring
2I love sumac too!
They do grow fast- sumac can give shade in a sunny spot in a single year.
The way light comea through the leaves is so soothing.
1
Dark oak. I like how it looks, when processed.
5there's this one tree in a park nearby that I used to climb on as a kid, id say that's my favorite tree
5Being the most common tree in America doesn't make the sycamore any less awesome.
They're big and their canopy is lush. Their limbs are all twisty and knobbly. They've got huge leaves that sound amazing blowing in the wind or crunching underfoot. The colloquialism for their seedpods is hilarious and the pods themselves are almost as cool as sweetgum seed pods.
Just some great trees all around.
5We have a big maple in our yard and more through the neighborhood. The sound of wind running through their leaves is very calming.
5Red-black tree https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red–black_tree
5I'm partial to AVL trees, they are 20% faster.
Source: Ben Pfaff. Performance analysis of BSTs in system softwar , 2004.
3Scapegoat tree ftw
2
Delonix regia, the original flamboyant.
5Aspen. Having lived and vacationed in Colorado in the past made my wife and I fall in love with them for their color in the fall. We’ve traveled back just to see them.
5Yew, so many are really old and have a mystical air to them.
4The one that gives weed
4
4Delightful!
1
Eucalyptus. Houses koalas, smells nice, is sturdy, and has a chance to explode when on fire due to the oil inside.
4
4Araucaria species. Because of their shape. They are the best.
I also really really like Magnolia trees, the large grandiflora ones ( those with the large glossy leaves and white flowers). I mean the flowers are amazing, but the way their trunks develop in very large specimens is so good, those semi buttressed roots and aerial offshoots hanging down are crazy amazing.
So yeah, araucarias and magnolias.
4Madrona. They're only in a few places in the world. Their bark sheds like paper and becomes kindling, leaving a super smooth trunk. The shed bark encourages forest fires, killing competitors and making room for their offspring to thrive.
3I love that you asked this question. I like trees I can climb :-)
3I'm going to go with white oak. The wood is very versatile; it's strong enough for load bearing furniture, it's hard enough for tabletops, it steam bends quite nicely, it's just a joy to work with, looks wonderful under an oil finish, and it lends a nice flavor to whiskey.
3Dollar
3I love monkey puzzle trees! They look like they'd be so easy to climb
I don't like trying to climb them though
3Ipê (common name), both the Handroanthus and Tabebuia kinds
you think cherry blossons are pretty? you ain't seen nothing yet
3Charlie Brown christmas tree. Are there Christmas tree bonsais?
3There was a HUGE oak tree at my grandma's house. I mean it was MASSIVE covering like the whole yard and was like 5 feet in diameter.
I grew up playing under it climbing limbs and swinging on a tire swing and a funner branch-seat swing which was lighter so it would go higher. Heres kinda how it looked:
Anyways, in a hurricane a few years ago a large branch snapped off and it got infected and had to be chopped down :(
3Red maple, the colour and shape of the leaves are so pretty!
3Love those too!
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