Whatzit?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Magnolia?

Not like any magnolia I've seen.....but I've got something like that out back blooming, too. Some sort of flowering fruitwood tree, not a cherry or mulberry.....

[chuck]

Bradford Pear? Daylight shot looks like the ornamental pears the township planted to line the cutover from Sheldon to Canton Center Roads. Beautiful white flowers.

[webenda]

Magnolia?

Not like any magnolia I've seen.....but I've got something like that out back blooming, too. Some sort of flowering fruitwood tree, not a cherry or mulberry.....

Smell the flowers, Rufus. If you wish you hadn't, it might be a Bradford Pear Tree.


Edit 1: Corrected typo, changed Bradley to Bradford.

[webenda]

Bradford Pear? Daylight shot looks like the ornamental pears the township planted to line the cutover from Sheldon to Canton Center Roads. Beautiful white flowers.

You have it, Chuck.

The harbinger of spring is generally a welcome and much-anticipated sign of the season. The first robin redbreast. The first chorus of chorus frogs. The blooming of the first daffodil. Even that very first giant* dandelion blooming in everybody's yard..
In the Kentucky, there’s another harbinger of spring but this one isn’t the one that goes on postage stamps, screen savers or gas station calendars. It is just as reliable an indicator of spring as about anything else out there but this one doesn’t generate many smiles. I’m talking about the invasive, smelly and much-maligned Pyrus calleryana, or the Bradford pear tree. It is a species of pear tree native to China and Vietnam, in the family Rosaceae.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Magnolia?

Not like any magnolia I've seen.....but I've got something like that out back blooming, too. Some sort of flowering fruitwood tree, not a cherry or mulberry.....

Smell the flowers, Rufus. If you wish you hadn't, it might be a Bradley Pear Tree.

Bradford Pear trees all along the next road over but they look nothing like your tree in height.

Mine might be your Bradley Pear. Was thinking of taking it down as it looked in poor health, but it's blooming so it gets another year.

[rogruth]

Looks a little like our pear trees that don't produce any fruit. Don't remember the name.

[chuck]

This is the Bradford pear. It is taller than the "improved" version shown below. It grows fast and tall and smells bad and has limbs that easily break.



Improved cultivar of the previous sample results in this:



The Cleveland Pear. It too grows fast and smells bad but it is noticeably shorter and "rounder". That's what was planted on the road cutover. These trees are now about 25-30 years old and I have noticed limb/branch damage from storms. Pretty tree but in some ways pretty fragile.

[rogruth]

Ours must be the Bradford type but I have never noticed bad smelling flowers.
To late to smell them. Blooms all gone and trees are now green.

[webenda]

giant* dandelion blooming in everybody's yard.

* I never saw dandelions this big (2 inches across) in California or Arizona. They are monsters in Kentucky.

EDIT 1: Identify the species.
Taraxacum officinale, common dandelion. Found in many forms.
The flower heads are 2–5 cm (1" to 2") in diameter.

Ecology. Taraxacum officinale is native to Europe and Asia, and was originally imported to America as a food crop. It is now naturalized throughout North America, southern Africa, South America, New Zealand, Australia, and India. It occurs in all 50 states of the US and most Canadian provinces.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Hmm.............

[webenda]

Macro photograph of a failed glue joint?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Macro photograph of a failed glue joint?

Interesting thought, but no. No glue in this one at all.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

A wee bit more then...

[chuck]

Google leans towards "wool" but I don't thing I agree. Other google suggestions are satellite radar mapping images and computer enhanced finger print scans? No!

Looks like striated rock but I can't put a finger on the cause/source for the striations (assuming it is rock).

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Google leans towards "wool" but I don't thing I agree.

Looks like striated rock but I can't put a finger on the cause/source for the striations (assuming it is rock).

Lean towards the rock pathway....