I saw this tree in Chile. From a distance it appears to be similar to northern hemisphere's pines; but the close-up shows the needles.

This is a photo of my silk floss tree in Venice. It blooms usually in September through October. I planted a new one in my front yard in Westchester, where I live now, but it is growing rather slowly. However, there are others in the neighborhood, and so it should do well after a while. Here's another view of it with my Queen's Palm behind it. Here's a close-up view of the trunk of my newer tree from December 2018. It loses its leaves in the winter.

I have posted this one before, but this magnificent tree will always be my favorite tree memory. The Angel Oak in South Carolina.

And this in my favorite tree in my yard. In full bloom now.

I saw a devastating sight last Sunday, while out riding with a friend. It shows, how important it is to check your trees. If there is a chance of decay within the tree, this is what can happen:

This is the maple in the upper meadow at our other home in NE PA.

More of a bush, growing in my house. A Jade Plant.

Last Fall

my grandsons

Flowering crab

Fall in California, gingko.

My huge beautiful crepe myrtle tree.

Wild Olive tree in my yard. Taken a couple of years ago in the middle of a very hot summer and water restriction due to severe drought. I follow the watering restrictions during droughts, obviously my neighbors (yard seen beyond tree) don't.

Rusty

Saying goodbye to Miami (South Pointe Pier and where we snorkeled the most)

I have had quite a few favorite trees. When I lived in Baltimore I had the most beautiful crepe myrtle that I planted in my backyard and it grew differently from yours, raven. It was more like a "birch" type tree in the way the branches were more "airy" and not nearly so dense. Maybe because it was younger than yours? I don't know. But I loved it and I hated leaving it when I moved back home. I tried a few times here, but sadly this climate is just too harsh for anything more than a crepe myrtle bush to grow.

My picture is of the red maple I had in my front yard. Great color in the fall and lots of nice shade for the house. Unfortunately the utilities company always trimmed the front of the tree severely and so all the growth was on one side. I began to worry that it would fall on the house in a storm. Also because of that tree, I had a gazillion ants that turned my front lawn into a sandy mess. It had to be about 90 years old and when it was cut down a couple of years ago, the entire trunk was a black hollow filled with giant black ants!!! My thinking was that the cost of cutting it down was cheaper than my deductible if it fell on my house. It was beautiful but it was dying.

Trees in the background at the pool this morning.

This massive tree at the Berringer Vineyard in Calistoga, CA gives new meaning to the term "Mighty Oak" - so big I couldn't get all of it in the frame. It's a gorgeous tree.

inoculating against Burr Oak Blight

Beautiful trees. I have a crepe myrtle in the side yard that is tall and airy. Much different shape than this one. They are such beautiful trees when left to grow naturally. Unfortunately around here the habit of crepe murder is rampant. So destructive and ugly.

This is an Australian palm tree at the L.A. County Arboretum. I like this tree because it makes flower/fruit that look like strands of pearls/beads. I don't have room for one here, but there's one down the street from me.

Nicole, I had a jade tree in my front yard in Venice that was seven feet high.

I also love jacaranda trees, which are common here, because they have very nice blue flowers, and not many trees make blue flowers. There are lots of them on the Sony lot, and Kevin does not like them because they drop a lot of flowers, littering the sidewalks.

I used to have a jade tree at least that big or bigger. I got so top heavy it split. It was beautiful.

At my parents' house in Texas, we had a pecan orchard and pecan trees in the yard that my great grandfather planted. I built a wooden seat in one of the pecan trees (which was quite large) in the front yard and it was almost a tree-house, but I could climb the tree (not easily) to go up and sit and look at the front yard and the pecan orchard on the other side of the road. At one time when I was about 10 or 11, I decided to put lighting in the tree and took a bunch of my mother's candles (which she would never light) and put them all over the tree, as far as I could climb and reach. I must have had at least 15 candles in the tree and lit all of them on a very calm spring or summer evening. The candles lit up the whole yard, but when my mother saw them, she made me take them all down, as she was afraid that I would start a fire. It was a beautiful sight while it lasted! I still love pecan trees and miss getting all the free pecans I had as a child.

when I was growing up in ND on the farm, we had a big tree just down the road from us, I think it is still there. My DB owns the place now. I loved that tree. We never climbed it but it was such a beautiful tree. I remember when the county built the road up past it and they were going to get rid of it. My dad told them that there would be a case of beer waiting for them if it was still there when they finished. He had to buy then a case of beer. I am almost positive it was there when my dad was growing up. He grew up on the same place. I never took a picture of it but I always thought I should. Maybe I will this Sunday. We are going up there for a graduation.