Tuesday, July 3, 2007

mystery trees

K says he's going to blog about the Pomona Public Library (and I believe he has a rant stored up for the providers that refuse to set up our net connection for TWO. WHOLE. WEEKS), but in the meantime, perhaps someone can help me identify the non-fruit trees in our yard.

First, there's this one, hanging over the alley:



Then there's the shade tree that hangs over the patio:













Finally, there is the shrub on the side of the house that looks like something out of The Cat in the Hat:



That one looks like something I need to get a handle on, since a runner of it is growing out of the porch steps, too (but not for long).

And then I need to get the Washingtonia palm dug up before it cracks the foundation. A friend suggested seeing if a landscaper wants to haul it away for use elsewhere, and I'll probably look into that.

5 comments:

KF said...

I'm useless when it comes to identifying plant life, so I'll pass on that part. This comment is merely to urge K. to make with the ranting, already; this here team blog is pretty darned univocal so far...

Anonymous said...

Any chance we can see larger images?
Maybe the first is some form of lilac (Syringa)?

meg said...

I've uploaded them to Flickr:
http://flickr.com/photos/mmwwah/sets/72157600685954482/

I've tried to organize them (alley tree, then yard tree, then Dr. Seuss tree) from wider view to up close. Any ideas you have will be gratefully received!

Anonymous said...

My new theory for alley tree is Paulownia tomentosa aka Empress Tree or Princess Tree.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Paulownia_tomentosa or
http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/esadocs/paultome.html

meg said...

By god, I think she's got it!

Those pikkies of pawlonia look exactly right. There is lots of medieval Japanese poetry that mentions pawlonia blossoms, but I never thought I'd have one right in my yard.

Thanks, Nerak!