Allenwrench, This is one is a hickory nut of some kind. Could be something perfectly edible, even delicious, or could be one of the astringent or bitter species. You'll have to wait until the nuts are ripe in the fall, then gather some, let them dry about a month, then crack them and see what they're like. Many hickory nuts are really, really delicious, but a bit hard to crack. Squirrels may take many of them before they are anywhere near mature. When they're ripe, the green outer husk splits open and eventually falls off, leaving a nice, clean nut. If it's white-ish to tan, and sort of flattened, it's a hickory, if it's more round and darker brown, it's a pecan. Both are in the same genus, Carya. Here's a good Wikipedia primer on Hickories: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hickory

Check out Robinsonella cordata, with gorgeous blue hibiscus-like flowers. I just picked one up at the UC Berkeley Botanic Garden fall sale, and am anticipating the first time I get to see it bloom. I am also enjoying the fall blooms on my Cunnonia capensis tree in my front garden, but this is another rarer tree species that takes some searching to find. The Chinese Fringe tree is also quite nice or how about Cornus capitata?.

Cool plant! This article is much more enthusiastic about what a great plant it is -- it mentions its exfoliating bark... and it's on the threatened species list. :( I hope you'll keep it or some of its offspring. https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/trees-and-shrubs/shrubs/simpsons-stopper.html#:~:text=Simpson's%20stopper%20(Myrcianthes%20fragrans)%20is,and%20how%20you%20prune%20it.

So far I haven't seen much of it in the Hudsonville/Zeeland area. That could be because of 1 of 2 reasons. 1 - I am not paying close enough attention 2 - it isn't actually present here in large concentrations The fragrance was quite noticeable on the day that I took the photos. Even at quite a distance away I kept smelling it and wondered if I was going to run into someone with that perfume on the trail at any moment.