Our Year-Long Tree Study: Spring Tulip Tree

We were able to get out and enjoy our spring temperatures this afternoon, completing a tree study of our Tulip tree as part of our on-going year-long tree study for the Outdoor Hour Challenge.

Our Observations

• Leaves are showing on many of the branches but there is still lots of growing that needs to happen.
• The seeds from last fall are still visible on many of the branches. Hard to believe it still has that many.
• We did not see any insects or birds this afternoon but this tree is a favorite of our early morning robin, the Western scrub jays, and the white-breasted nuthatch. We see them in this tree daily now.
• The leaves were all very small but we did compare a few and they are the same shape.
• There are lots of changes in the leaves and colors since the fall and winter. The shape of the tree is different as well because all of our freak winter snow broke off many of the branches in this tree...a few ending up on the roof of our house.
• We discovered that we will not be able to use the activity on page 626 to measure the height of our tree. The tree's shadow lands squarely on the roof of our house in the morning. I am going to ask my husband if he can help us figure out how to accomplish the task.

We came back inside with one of the leaves and my son and I both sketched it into our nature journals.



His is very simple while I took a little more time and played with my watercolor pencils and my Prismacolor pens.




We found this interesting website on our tree: Yellow poplar or Tulip Tree. This tree is not native to California, but many choose it to grow as a shade tree. We like the shade as well as the leaf shape and the flowers later in the spring.

Here are our autumn and winter blog entries for this tree.

It is not too late to get outdoors and start observing a tree. You can even start this season and continue over the next year. The best way to observe your tree is to go outside and quietly sit and look at your tree. You may be surprised and see some visitors as you sit. I am anxious to see how your family's tree has changed since the last time you reported in. Make sure to come back to Spring Series #1 and record your link in Mr. Linky.