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Itzl Alert Network: Tuesday, 18th of March, 2025: Trees of Wichita, Kansas [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-03-17
I have about 30 books in my home:
You can see my books there on the second shelf.
Nearly all of them are non-fiction.
I see them there, right in front of me, every day.
So, I decided that for the next 30 Tuesdays or so, I can post IAN hosting diaries featuring the content of these books.
Three years ago, right after my wife, Tonia, died, I started taking long walks every day.
On my walks, I got to looking at the trees along the way.
I have been learning to identify trees and shrubs since I was a teenager, about 1970 or so.
So, when I saw a few trees, during my walks, that I could not identify, I bought me two field guides to the trees of North America.
(Those are two of the books on the far right, in that video.)
The little dog is named Itzl. As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at, to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off Daily Kos. If you're not here, or anywhere else on Daily Kos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care! IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a PM to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news! This is our current schedule of regular IAN diary writers: Monday: Youffraita Tuesday: bigjacbigjacbigjac Wednesday: Pam from Calif Thursday: art ah zen Friday: FloridaSNMOM Saturday: FloridaSNDad Sunday: loggersbrat
I recall posting a diary about this topic, maybe a year ago.
But rather than go back and look at that diary, I decided to simply charge ahead with this one.
I think that was before Tippy and Dad joined this group, so we will get fresh eyes, and fresh commentary, most likely.
The two books:
A Photographic Guide to More than 500 Trees of North America and Europe
And:
National Geographic Field Guide to the Trees of North America
Here we have two videos of trees that I recorded recently:
That is a Chinese elm, according to my father and according to Tippy and Dad.
I do not know what kind of tree that is.
The flowers caught my eye, so I recorded this video to decorate my YouTube channel, and IAN.
Feel free to tell me in the comments if you have some idea about it.
Sorry I did not get a close-up of the flowers.
Now I will go through the trees listed in the books, starting with the broadleaf trees listed in the National Geographic book, only listing those I see in my neighborhood here in Wichita, Kansas:
Cottonwood. The cottonwood tree is the state tree of Kansas.
Weeping Willow
Black Walnut
Oak (I counted 31 varieties of oak trees in this book. We have at least two or three different kinds near my home. I do not know which ones they are.)
American Chestnut
Elm (I counted 9 varieties of elm in this book. We have at least 3 or 4 different kinds near my home. I do not know which ones they are.)
Hackberry
Red Mulberry (Tasty berries.)
Osage Orange (This tree is also called the Hedge Apple tree. These are the trees that were planted in straight rows, as wind breaks, all over Kansas, after the terrible dust storms of the Dust Bowl Days. You can look that up.)
Saucer Magnolia? The flowers in the book look like the flowers on the tree in that video above. I am not certain, maybe you can verify. Not likely with no close-up.
Sweet Gum. I call these the spikey ball trees, because, in the fall, under each of these trees is hundreds of seed pods that are spikey balls.
Ash. I will not even count, but there are many varieties of ash trees. I do not know which ones are near my home. I figured out some of them might be ash trees, by process of elimination, trying to identify trees that had me stumped. (Ha!)
Crab Apple. I count six varieties in this book. I do not know which ones are near my home. I only know that they were planted in great numbers here, clearly for the blooms they show us every spring.
Bradford Pear. Once again, we have so many of these all over Wichita. My brother-in-law has a tree cutting business, and the fierce Kansas wind knocks over those Bradford Pear trees, a lot, and he gets called to use his chainsaw, and clean up the mess. And once again, like the Crab Apple, the blossoms are pretty in the spring. The number one worst city in the USA for those allergic to pollen, is Wichita, Kansas. Ha!
Eastern Redbud. More pretty flowers in the spring.
Honey Locust (very thorny tree!)
Mimosa (very pretty silky flowers.)
Kentucky Coffee Tree
American Sycamore (these have bark that is almost white, with grey strips mixed in.)
Maple. I count 14 varieties in the book. We have maybe two or three types here. I do not know which ones.
Golden Rain Tree. This one has leaves with leaflets, and leaflets on the leaflets. Look it up on Wikipedia and see what I mean.
Crape Myrtle. Pretty pink flowers.
Catalpa. Truly large leaves, and truly long seed pods. You will notice this tree if you see one.
Bald Cypress. This one has needles like the other conifers, but the needles turn brown and fall off in the fall. They can grow in swamps, so you may have seen pictures of them in swamps, but they can also grow in Kansas! Ha!
Juniper. I looked these up in Wikipedia and found 8 varieties that are commonly cultivated. (They listed over a hundred wild varieties.) I have seen at least 2 or 3 varieties near my home.
Those are juniper bushes getting decorated by that snow.
(That video is from over a year ago.)
Ha!
I am not going to go through any more trees listed in my books.
I think I have posted enough!
Well, hug your humans and your pets.
And if you feel it is going too far to hug your trees, then at least say hello to them!
Ha!
Hugs, from me to you.
Hugs.
[END]
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