Bona Dea Update-04-29-12

Today was a nice day to be out and about. I have seen this tree in the park off of Old Shorty Trail for a long time but never knew what it was until this year's bloom. I really think the tulip like blooms are beautiful and I have never looked at them up close before. These blooms were off the groud quite a ways and I had to throw a rope up and over a limb and pull it down in order to bread off a short twig with leaves and flowers. This is a Yellow-poplar-or Tuliptree-Magnoliaceae Liriodendron tulipifera L. This tree is not native of this area however. In this section of the park which is the parking area and picnic area, the acreage was planted with different wildflowers and trees by the government when the park was developed. These are photos of its bark,look at the woodpecker holes and leaf closup and profile of the whole tree and then 2 photos showing a darker and a lighter exposure of the bloom. Which exposure do you think is best?? Leave answer in comment section. Thanks!! Also at the local Western Sizzlin Restaurant there is this really nice Red Mulberry Tree-Morus rubra. You can eat these berries and they are sorta like wild blackberries. Photos showing the whole tree and limbs and leaves and the berries beside a nickel.