Favorite Tree

**Rob Murphy** · 08-31-2002, 05:31 AM

As usual I was boring my friends talking about trees when suddenly Emma asked me
"whats your favorite tree"
I was dumbfounded .There are so many different trees ...what is my favorite... i couldnt think of one. Then I thought there are favorite to look at, favorites to climb,favorites to prune, favorites to chip........In the end I came up with English Lime or Linden...my all round favorite tree.
What's yours?

**hillbilly** · 08-31-2002, 06:53 AM

Linden is a really nice tree, and what a joy to cut, like cutting melted butter.
Very elegant and tough is Swedish Whitebeam, Sorbus intermedia, know to withstand hard winds and salt.

**Stumper** · 08-31-2002, 07:38 AM

Such a hard question! I hate giving the same answer as everyone else but i'm very close to doing so.-Several people have asked about planting new trees this year and my number one suggestion has been American Linden. There are so many great trees though....(and some of my favorites for other areas are marginal here)

**Tim Gardner** · 08-31-2002, 08:15 AM

I would have to say the Live Oak is by far my favorite tree. An all around great tree.

**Jumper** · 08-31-2002, 08:22 AM

The Sugar Maple of course! A healthy specimen puts a lot of these introduced varieties to shame. and you can always tap it come spring for a slurp or two, or sap tea. I have two I am trying to grow in my back yard that I got from the family farm's sugarbush shortly before the property was sold.

**rbtree** · 08-31-2002, 08:24 AM

I'd have to say my overall fav would be beech, especially a copper beech at prime color time. Easy to climb and prune, unlike a huge elm, but then the challenge can be fun too...

Just about any mature shade tree is a joy to prune and climb, whether the climb is easy or a challenge. And we don't have enough out here in conifer country to satisfy.

Climbing/pruning conifers can be easy or hard but gets a bit old.

**Acer** · 08-31-2002, 09:44 AM

I quite like beech that has had plenty of space to spread out, tho I'm not so keen on the copper variety (beech also makes a fantastic hedge, given time). Lime are OK (if you can find one that hasn't been topped), providing you don't mind the honeydew. I like them in winter for their character. They look so scruffy, with most of the bark black with honeydew mould. The best city tree must be London plane. A mature specimen just looks fantastic (again, providing noone's blasted out the top at some point previously). I think my favourite by a whisker must be a mature oak, especially in it's own space (Q. robur in particular) They look like they'll be there for ever! I always feel safest climbing an oak - you can anchor onto quite slender branches with no fear of them snapping out.

**DDM** · 08-31-2002, 10:21 AM

My favorite would be a bradford Pear Because the only thing you can really do for one is remove it. And they chip So nicely!

**rborist1** · 08-31-2002, 10:40 AM

**Toddppm** · 08-31-2002, 12:13 PM

Nothing like a big old White Oak that has been untouched and grown in a wide open space. Theres a few I drive by every once in a while I've been meaning to get a picture of one day.

**rahtreelimbs** · 08-31-2002, 03:25 PM

Don't have to think twice on this one: White Oak!!! White Oaks are great for learning on. Plus their wood makes cutting and hinging easy. Rich.

**John Paul Sanborn** · 08-31-2002, 05:17 PM

Bur, swamp white oaks and their progeny X schuettei (is that the sweaty oak

)

**TREETX** · 09-05-2002, 09:04 AM

Favorite by far is Taxodium distichum - Bald cypress, a more western variety to be specific.

They do well on acidic, basic, and are very drought tolerant. Will grow in wet area or on solid limestone. Low maintenance.

Gotta love live Oak but I get real sick of them day after day, after day...

Amen about the Bradford Pears. I get more pathology calls about Bradford pears than any other tree. CUT IT DOWN and plant a REAL tree.

Beech is my favorite across the pond. Check out the 800 year old Bavaria Beech (Bavaria-Buche).