Answer to Mystery Tree- March 22

Pin Oak,  Quercus palustris

To be fair- it's a beautiful tree the rest of the year. Lovely in summer with beautiful red color in fall.

Almost a good idea.

This mystery tree holds on to its dead leaves through most of the winter. It has a nice symmetrical shape and is very hardy so it is used a lot as a street tree. You can see it downtown on Bond and Wall Streets.  In theory, holding on to leaves should mean less clean up. Really, it just means that SOME leaves fall ALL WINTER LONG! I mean, its not like persistent berries or fruits that might provide winter food for the birds or extra color interest in the winter landscape. Nature came up with an almost good idea- less raking in Fall, maybe- but brown leaves just aren't that fun to look at all winter.  What tree is it?

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Answer to March 4, 2010 Mystery Tree

Picea or Spruce Family. Picea pungens var. glauca is the Colorado Blue Spruce. Picea abies is the Norway Spruce but there are over 40 varieties. The older trees can appear more open and kind of lacy looking as in this picture.

Picea is derived from the Latin word pix, which means pitch.  Spruce can grow large and generally have a symmetrical and pyramidal shape. The needles are often flat, but sharp. They are different from the flat and soft tipped Fir needles and do not grow in bunches like Pine needles.

The cones shown here hanging down.

Something to Crow About.

This conifer is used extensively in our Central Oregon landscapes. I've been noticing that the cones seem to be clustered near the tree top and the brown hue attracts my attention as I drive along Franklin near Juniper Park. Varieties come in green and in blue- but both have cones that usually hang down.