It snow challenge at all...

...to ID plants under a freshly fallen mantle of fluffy frosty flakes. Or is it?

For the first measurable frozen precip since Thanksgiving-ish here, Ma Nature did herself proud. What have we here anyway?

1. The marcescent tree on the right -- Quercus dentata
2. The one with the red fruit -- Viburnum dilatatum 'Asian Beauty'
3. The foreground conifer -- Picea omorika
4. The big tree -- Platanus occidentalis
5. The west end of eastbound quadriped -- Bella the beagle






This message was edited Feb 20, 2015 10:57 PM

There were lots of tableaux to observe and admire yesterday.

Here are several more...

6. The large shrub in center -- Cornus mas 'Golden Glory'
7. The stems bending in supplication -- Daucus carota
8. The large shrub/small tree with red fruit -- Ilex decidua
9. OMG -- Gleditsia triacanthos
10. The gently giant conifer -- Thuja plicata 'Hogan'


This message was edited Feb 20, 2015 10:59 PM

For picture 5, it appears that he ain't nothin' but a hound dog.

Like a snowball headed downslope...

11. Right in the middle (note: exceedingly high degree of difficulty) -- Euonymus atropurpureus
12. Young conifer (another toughie) -- Abies nordmanniana
13. Incredibly common, but incredibly covered -- Viburnum dentatum
14. Broadleaf evergreen -- Buxus sempervirens
15. Choice small tree (bonus points to get this one) -- Styrax obassia



This message was edited Feb 20, 2015 11:05 PM

Good morning momlady!

I'll take it that you are no veterinarian.

Bella is too busy snuffling scents to be offended. She is a member of a breed that fits in Elvis' ode...

If desirable, I'll provide additional info/imagery of any above...

I'm glad Bella isn't easily offended! I figured those 4 legs, barrel-shaped little brown body, and happy tail had to be caninical.

I'm looking at your pictures with extreme snow envy. We have had none this winter.

What is your pointy OMG plant?

A few more, and then I'm breaking for breakfast...

16. Top of a twenty foot conifer -- Picea orientalis
17. Small tree front and center -- Syringa reticulata 'Ivory Silk'
18. Unusual branching pattern on this tree -- Nyssa sylvatica 'Zydeco Twist'
19. In your face, with a little clue top center left (toughie) -- Tetradium daniellii
20. Common everyday life affirming -- Viburnum prunifolium



This message was edited Feb 20, 2015 11:08 PM

#9 is the OMG plant...

9. More of well-armed tree
9. Well branched too

About #9, I meant to add:

I'm glad it's a plant you'd like to know, but try as I might give away - I can't those...

9 "OMG" - Honey-locust. Got it from the thumbnail alone ;-)

Can't do the others just now as internet is very slow and the full-size pics aren't loading :-(

Resin

The juxtaposition of the hard, sharp thorns covered by the soft, fluffy snow is great.

Dang it, Resin - was hoping momlady (or someone) would look at my nebulous answer long enough to discern the imbedded information.

Honey-locust is Gleditsia triacanthos. As I wrote above:

I'm glad it's a plant you'd like to know, but try as I might give away - I can't those...

Can't blame a lad for trying. Here's the beast in warmer times...

#1 - looke more like a Quercus than a Fagus. Can't tell which species though.

Pic took nearly a minute to load, shouldn't take more than a second or two :-((

Resin

Loading a bit faster now . . .

#2 - one of your Viburna
#3 - Picea sp.
#4 - Platanus occidentalis
#5 - Canis unfamiliaris

##6-8 - dunno
#10 - Thuja 'Green Giant'

#11 - Acer sp., maybe A. saccharum
#12 - Picea orientalis ?
#13 - dunno
#14 - Buxus sp.
#15 - Stewartia sp.?

#16 - Picea sp.
#17 - dunno
#18 - Corylus avellana 'Tortuosa' ?
#19 - Acer sp.?
#20 - dunno

Resin

Thank you, Resin, for throwing some genera against the wall. Maybe that'll buck up some wills around here to venture forth with ideas.

You are correct on: #1, 2, 3, 4, part of 10 (not 'Green Giant'), 14, and 16.

wow, your embedded Gleditsia clue...quite the wordsmithing
I was thinking marcescent may mean the quirky (quercy) habit of some trees keeping those brown leaves into winter but still needed to look that up
I had #4 but Resin beat me to it.
I thought I saw a Cornus floridus on one of those, pic of small tree...

And now I'm leaving the rest to the pros so I can watch and learn

Sir, It is always helpful when requesting a plant identification if you start with a general photo of the plant in habitat, then close ups, so we can help you determine what you have there ;)

haha Pistil...

There is no shame in requesting additional information. I certainly didn't want to diminish your interest by dropping all the veils at once...

So: which of the many unidentified plants would you like more images of...

No Cornus florida in those images - and stop encouraging such insolence. Everyone is welcome to build on the genus IDs with some more specific epithets.

Or, I swear I'll start wordsmithing...

These cracked me up. All they lacked was a blue tint, and I'd have had a tree-full of Smurfs.

#15 was the one I accused of being Dogwood, probably not a tree you'd call out as 'choice', no offense to Dogwood. It is still open for ID.

I'll take a stab at #20: Forsythia?

Here are more images of #15 (not a Dogwood of any kind)...

Here are more images of #20 (not a Forsythia)...

Is #9 a Poncirus trifoliata? I don't think it is but figured it'd be worth a shot. Perhaps more images of it in season?

You all can show off and know all the names! I have NO clue..I am "nameless"....
.
Beautiful pictures and pretty snow shots.

All i want to say to you, Viburnum, is that you are a superb photographer,
surely have a VERY good camera AND---I think you could turn a lot of your
photos into Christmas cards. Maybe a bit of cropping? Make some $$$ on them.

Love all your pictures! Gita

Dear VV,

Please be so kind as to bestow upon us mere mortals close-up photos of numbers 7 and 20. In addition, please explain in as many sentences as you wish what you consider to be life-affirming.

Thanks,

Not A. Botanist

Sequoiadendron4:

#9 was solved by Resin - that is a Gleditsia triacanthos (Honey-locust).

Gitagal:

Thank you for your kind words about my pictures. I like to document what I see, and additionally use those images to help others to learn about plants. The ability to identify what's around us in landscapes known and unknown gives us more knowledge and power to create those things we appreciate, and diminish those things that are debilitating.

I will take you at your word that these photographs would cause people to part with their money. Perhaps you would be first in line...

Muddy1:

If you were a botanist, I'd be castigating you for not already identifying 90% of those plants. I'll see if I have closeups of those plants (with snow on them) but some of these I couldn't get any closer to, or the snow would be knocked off. Lost some good opportunities early on trying just that. It was only after coming back inside (450 pictures later, after about an hour spent walking around till my fingers and toes were numb) and downloading these that I could see that many turned out well. That's when I got the idea that snow-covered ID was an approach seldom taken.

As to your last request: Life Affirming.

I'm not certain from where this arises. Do you mean things like babbling brooks, baby belly-laughs, soft kittens, warm puppies? Or long time life partners walking hand-in-hand? Or...

Sunshine on a cloudy day...the month of May

So much honey, the bees envy me...a sweeter song than the birds in the trees

No money, fortune or fame...all the riches one man can claim

Hmmm...

My girl by Stevie Wonder, so my (wild ) guess is one of
http://www.usna.usda.gov/Newintro/magnoli1.html

Based only on wordplay, not on any ID ability of mine

TEMPTATIONS!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IUG-9jZD-g

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Girl_(The_Temptations_song)

Those were serious life-affirming kinds of things I mentioned.

No, sallyg ran right on past, lapped me, and is somewhere over the horizon on her way to a world record marathon time. I really just missed what Muddy1 was alluding to in my own previous posting.

#20 is NOT a Little Girl series Magnolia - or any other kind of Magnolia sp. It has opposite arrangement, for heaven's sake.

"Common everyday life affirming" for VV means one of those plants he really likes - to the point that his DG handle includes its genus - of which there are many around the Valley.

How's that for a HUGE hint...

funny, Metrolyrics brings it up as a Stevie Wonder song ....

Now THAT'S a hint ! #20 has got to be a Vivacious Viburnum.

#8 - Ilex decidua perhaps

This message was edited Jan 28, 2015 10:28 PM

Ding ding ding!

#20 is Viburnum prunifolium - Blackhaw Viburnum.

See the big old dormant flower buds in the second supplemental image...

Some wild guesses: #7 = Hydrangea + #8 = Ilex decidua

Muddy1 is on a roll.

#8 is Ilex decidua - which normally is still fully clothed with stellar red fruit clasping the stems. Mockingbird attention has thinned the herd early this year.

#7 is still feral, eluding your wild guess. I may have omitted mentioning that it is the only herbaceous plant in the batch - but it looked so nice, I had to include it.

Woot, Muddy! You go, girl!

Thanks Sally!

VV, how about a little word play for #7 ?

have no idea how anyone can figure out what these are with no leaves - now if there was a japanese maple in the bunch I might have a chance.

#1 looks like beagle butt to me.
#10, Cryptomeria Radicans
#11, Kentucky coffeetree...

And the last shall be first...

Mipii:

I hope you mean #5 looks like...Bella.

#10 is not a Cryptomeria sp. Resin got the genus right as Thuja.

#11 - big fat no to Gymnocladus dioicus. This one has opposite branching.

Muddy1:

Sniff...

I can't just turn it on and off!