Most impressive feature

[Charles]

What's the most impressive tree or shrub in your "yarden"

I have 2.

A Susanqua Camellia pruned in tree form, 10ft. high and a 6 ft. conopy.
Really showing off right now! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

The other is a 50 year old dogwood growing in full sun. With the wet summer we had, its fall color was breathtaking this year, and this spring will be awesome!

What about yours?

[Gone_with_the_Wind]

The most "impressive" (and I say that with tongue in cheek) tree that I have in my yard is a 50 year old fruitless mulberry tree. It's the only tree that I'm not allergic to!

The "tongue in cheek" thing is that this fruitless mulberry tree refuses to die. Now I've grown so fond of it, I don't want to take out the thing. It's giant! I don't know how tall it is. It's taller than all the telephone poles. It's branches keep my high desert home in the shade all summer, while its roots tear up my concrete foundations. It's a beautiful old tree, but it's killing my bank account to keep the roots in check.

The most impressive flower here in the high desert (Mojave) is our California state flower, the California poppy. It's indigenous to the area. In January you can see the lacey tops start to pop up. If you didn't know the difference between carrot greens and the California poppy, you'd swear someone secretly planted a bunch a carrots in your yard! These poppies aren't the toxic kind, the opium producers. But you don't want to eat a poppy seed bagel just before a drug test because the test will come out positive for opiates!

California poppies are beautiful. The state poppy reserve is here in Lancaster where I live and every year we have a poppy festival. I grow my own poppies and every year I harvest the seeds for the next crop. Fair warning if you come here: Never ever pick a California poppy. It's against the law. But you CAN harvest the seeds after the flower dies and pods develop.

Just a little interesting side-note: I place the seed pods in a paper bag until they do their thing; they make a real popping sound in the bag and you can hear the seeds burst through the bag like a sand blast. If you don't know what it is, it could scare the heck out you. It's good for fending off the bad guys that would want to burglarize your house. They get paranoid and leave!

[Etaoin]

I've 2 oak trees that were big when I bought in 1962, I can only guess them to be @ 100. Oak seedlings that I encouraged 15 years ago are @5" in diameter. I keep cutting down the mulberry trees as they are like weeds. I did keep one huge one about 100' from the house. I do like the mulberries. Then I keep some choke cherry trees in case we run out of the jelly.

Mulberries were a staple in the Indian's diet as they used it in the making of pemmican.