Tag Archives: Arboretum

It Doesn’t Get More Obvious Than This

Last summer, I wrote about bark inclusion. I have also written about co-dominant stems or double leaders on a tree.

So, yesterday I was walking northeast on the section of the Freedom Park Trail between North Highland Avenue and the Jimmy Carter Library & Museum/The Carter Center.

Years ago, we planted trees nearby, along what is now called John Lewis Freedom Parkway.

These are winged elms. “Winged” refers to the corky “wings” or ridges that can be found growing on opposite sides of the tree’s twigs and branches, particularly its younger branches:

(For this tree, by the way, the scientific name and the common name are a perfect match: Ulmus alata is literally “winged elm.” Contrast our water oak, Quercus nigra, which we should be calling “black oak,” I suppose. Except what we commonly call black oak has the botanical name Quercus velutina, literally “velvety oak,” referring to the fine hairs found on its buds and young leaves. What a nomenclatural mess!)

I saw that one of the winged elms along the parkway has split in two:

The culprit?

Sigh.

Inman Park Neighborhood Arboretum

Trees Atlanta has put together a virtual tour of the Inman Park Neighborhood Arboretum, which focuses on flowering trees. It’s absolutely fantastic. Click on the photo to go to tour.

Our physical arboretum is, however, in dire need of a great deal of maintenance: replanting trees that have died, replacing markers that have disappeared, cleaning and resetting markers, and the like. Volunteers have stepped forward to help. If you would like to join them, contact us!