You favourite tree

what is your favourite tree type?

All of them. I remember as a child just lying on the ground and looking up at the sky through the trees. I still love doing this today. I've even been known to hug the odd tree now and then, or, if other folks are around, just a thankful pat on their trunk.

This wonderful sprawling oak, tucked away in a corner of Wollaton Park, Nottingham

Got to be oak. We have quite a few old examples next to us, including a decent sized one in the hedge around our paddock. Old, gnarly, imposing, reassuring. An oak tree is home to 500 species apparently.

Pines don't have the same effect on me* and pine forests seem a bit barren compared to broadleaf woodland.

*I still like them, it's just they live in a different kind of landscape to the one that appeals most to me.

Yep , up the road from the Major Oak - close to 1000years old. It's had several attempts at being burned down. No one will cut that massive trunk

It's seen better days but it's been part of my life since a kid.  And it's world famous, there's a reference to it in the Sequoia National park - California.(The general Sherman is impressive. As are the Redwoods too. Incredible.)

I love trees generally. They make the countryside.

I know Pines are not always looked at  favourably for all manner of reasons but they define adventure to me.

This wonderful sprawling oak

Now that is a tree 🙂

My favourite tree was on Mardon Down overlooking Mortenhampstead and Dartmoor. Blew over a couple of years back… Thankfully just nature taking it’s course not related to morons and chainsaws

Mine is definitely the sycamore that was in the garden of the farmhouse i grew up in. We had a tree swing over the stream and it looked beautiful in summer

Glad to say it's still there

The Rowan

Our nextdoor neighbour. It's much bigger and more imposing for real than it looks in the picture. Dozens more of similar size and age within a couple of 100m of the house too.

Yeah. Love Birch trees too. Cheers Matt, I'll get that book.

Silver birch. I take photos of them and try to turn them into arty pics. Still not got one done I'm really happy with but they are just nice trees, everywhere, but nice all the same

I love the smell of the Silver Birch at a certain point in the spring.

Loads of them round a loch local to us which I ride past quite often.

Massive Oaks are my favourite though. The tales they could tell if they could talk.

I have one that my daughter (10yrs old at the time) grew from an orange pip in class.  Planted it in the garden and this orange tree grew to about 8ft tall over 7-8 years but didnt flower or anything.  Assumed it was too cold for oranges in Fife and i cut it down to ground level.  It coppiced and is again 7-8 feet tall and it actually blossomed this year.

Anyway, ate a pear from it last night!

Lots of great trees near me in Windsor great park, but love the tree on the green in Holyport. Such nice proportions.

All trees are special. However If I had to choose one, it would be an English oak.
I love a proper orchard and the smell of a pine tree.

My mum has just had a Scots pine tree removed from her front garden. It was 50 years old. I cried all the way home when she said it was going (the tree surgeon said it shouldn't be in her garden but in a forest). It could have been capped and some lower branches safely removed. She's not planning to replace the tree with anything, not even a tiny crab apple (my suggestion), Aaarrgghhh.

The Sycamore that stands on its own on the Moor Bottom Bridleway at the point where you chuck your bike over the fence and head down through the switchbacks in Reddisher woods to finish at the pub

Was just speaking to someone about this the other day.

Got to be Scots Pine for me.

This is a little Ash tree in a field near where I used to work. Must have passed it 1000s of times. I cycled past a couple of birthdays ago when I wasn’t enjoying life that much and went to meet it. It’s a lovely tree and it made me feel good.

I just love to be around trees full stop! It's one of the main things I don't like about living in a city even though there are quite a lot around near me in parks. Much prefer native trees to homogenous pine forests but just being out and about around trees is one of my Happy Places. When I was going through a very rough time a few years ago I went to CBT sessions at a local Manor House that was opened as a community hub and that had a few trees around it, just looking at them through the window was enough to calm me down, every session was followed by a gentle walk along them while I processed my thoughts.

Bloody love trees. That's why I'm typing this now surrounded by them at Brechfa after a ride!

Oaks are gnarly 🙂

I like a beech or a really really really tall pine

favourite individual tree though is this badger. A sycamore in my garden must 200+ years old, gnarly as hell and I get to be it’s custodian for a bit. (Unless I wang it the wood burner! Joke!)

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Can we have a small group of trees? Used to look at this little blob of woodland perched on an ancient barrow from the window of my old house.

I like a Sorbus cashmiriana for the garden. I grew up near Birnam so the Birnam Oak is pretty special. Near where I live now there's an avenue of redwoods that are pretty impressive.

This is currently my kind of tree, though i love oaks and various others, covered in mosses and shaped to sit on And why havent they picked it up with a helicopter and superglued it back in place yet? Its not like its the weekend yet

Loving these.

I need to go take a picture of a cool tree this weekend.

Perhaps I need to change the thread title - photos of trees.

This one at the top of Martinsell Hill in Wiltshire.

These ones along the B818 at Carron Valley:

A contorted Monterey Cypress in Birdham church yard.

Mine probably was the now felled sycamore. That section of the wall from Walltown quarry to Housteads is simply stunning and I've walked it several times. There was just something wonderful about it, ethereal in certain weather conditions. Woe is me

I also really like old yew trees. There's a really nice one in Yorkshire Sculpture park with some musical steps under it. It's great for kids (big and small)

This Beech at Dudmaston was my favourite, but it came down in a storm 2 years ago.

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(my pic)

That then promoted this Beech on Clent to first spot (not my pix).

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But then that came down in a storm earlier this year

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I want a new favourite tree, but scared to find it!

I want a new favourite tree, but scared to find it!

Please stay away from some of the Granny Scots Pines of the Cairngorms and Black Woods of Rannoch, some of my favourite tree haunts... 😃

Tricky one. If you are going for the "impressive scale" aspect, I'd want to add blue atlas cedar to the big ones already picked out above. Fun climbing frame.

Overlooked and really nice mature trees just for their form I think are elm and hornbeam.

Wildcard for one I always love to see is spindle.

If the OP can pick "forest" as their favourite tree, I can have more than one species!! 😉

I've a lot of time for the douglas fir. You want a really big and impressive and reliable tree that's both handsome but also practical? Dougie's got you. But you want a completely nonconformist grew-this-shape-for-a-bet tree? Dougie can do that too. Go up 20 feet then go at right angles instead for no reason? Sure. Grow outwards instead of upward and be the girthiest tree in the forest? Why not. Grow up a bit, do a u-ey, grow back under the ground then grow up out of the ground again somewhere else like a snake? Oh you are a wag douglas fir.

Cedar of Lebanon is a great tree too. All cedars are really but those branch shapes are wonderful.

I just love trees in general, this one is mine, bought around thirty-odd years ago as a stick from a nursery in Newbury as a present for my mum, cost £19!

It’s an Acer Palmatum ‘Osakazuki’

This group of beech on the bank around Avebury Henge, their interlinking roots are just spectacular.

The 100+ rare Scottish apple varieties we have planted some of which will shortly be making their way to Craigievar castle.

I'm quite fond of these fellas atop Roundway Down/ Oliver's Castle, Wilts.

This has obviously sparked a debate, which is good. It’s making us all appreciate them a bit more

Someone has just posted an absolutely belting photo of my favourite tree on the local Facebook group

An honourable mention to the legendary ‘Nearly There’ Trees when you’re on the big drive to Cornwall

Truly iconic

Nice trees. Are any protected by law, generally or specifically?

@roger_mellie - I know those trees very well, living in Chippenham and seeing them every time I drive along the Devizes road, and I can see them from Furze Knoll just above the golf course next to Morgan’s Hill nature reserve.

@binners - I grew to know the ‘nearly there’ trees when driving for BCA, I was driving that stretch of road to and from Cornwall often, several times a week, in fact. 😁

Scots Pine without question for me

I like the distant "elephant trees" on the ridge when you're riding thru Weardale

The Act of Union beeches on North Berwick Law are pretty cool.

Love being in the company of trees.

Loved climbing them as a kid, Loved doing forestry work as a young man, Now love walking in the woods and riding on wooded trails as an old man.

Often admire this fine specimen on local road loop.

Try again

I like the distant “elephant trees” on the ridge when you’re riding thru Weardale

Me too!

Gibside is also a great place woody goodness, with some great vistas (sorry, not the best pic):

I also like the way trees can transform even relatively humble places into something spectacular in winter:

Wych Elm. I know a small wood that's just hanging on. It just feels different when your in it... Very special.

And the....

Silver Birch. Hazel and the Blackthorn.

Basically all trees, shrubs and brash and bramble. Even grass.

One of my favourite stands of trees. The Caterpillar

Im not sure I have a favourite 'tree' as such, as most of the time its in plank form. Maybe not socially acceptable currently 😆

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But the thing I like about trees is the way the internal structure arranges itself. You can understand that the grain direction runs pretty much straight, or slightly wavy as the grain grows and each layer is laid down. But with some trees how that process happens is quite beyond my understanding.

Please understand, trees are great, and they have propelled society forward. Sure they have an earthy presence about them, especially the singular standing alone on a hillside, but also as a material they need to be celebrated more.

So I suppose my favorite tree is the west African Bubinga tree. As its internal structure is both fascinating and beautiful to look at.

Please understand, trees are great, and they have propelled society forward. Sure they have an earthy presence about them, especially the singular standing alone on a hillside, but also as a material they need to be celebrated more.

I won’t argue with that, wood is a wonderful resource, it’s constantly renewable, and as a material for constructing and making things both practical and of great beauty, almost without equal. Just the infinite variety of grain patterns alone, plus colours makes it hugely satisfying and rewarding as a material for making things that just satisfy the soul.
Wooden items are turning up in melting glaciers from several thousand years ago that are teaching us about our own human history, for example. Yew bows that were found in the Mary Rose, that were still well enough preserved to be able to shoot arrows have thought us new things about our own history.
I’ve recently taken up archery, and I was talking to an archer from another club who uses a longbow. Most these days are laminated, but his are one piece of yew. The wood mostly comes from Italy, (he has seven bows, one he made himself, and the wood takes five years to season) and apparently there was so much demand for raw timber from yew trees during the 100 Years War, that there wasn’t enough available in Britain to supply the necessary numbers for the armies involved, so Italy became the main source! Every day’s a school day!

I’ve made several forage sticks, a type of walking stick with the top shaped for comfort, but also to be able to hook branches and harvest whatever is on them. I’ve got two made from Holly, two from Hazel, one from hazel and Yew, so next I’m looking for a yew stem growing in such a way to make a one piece forage stick. Because of the type of growth needed, it may take a while…

Here’s my yew/hazel stick…

and this one’s all Holly, you can see the difference in colour where there’s new and older growth, the stick is effectively upside-down, which is why it’s difficult to find exactly the right stem. But it’s very satisfying when you do!

I like them all.

But round here, we do some really nice old Beeches so those tend to be my faves.

We have an amazing one just outside the village, but fires, wind and age are getting it close to it's end now I reckon. Sad.

https://flic.kr/p/2p3eoBc

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But did find another cool one on tonight's ride.

https://flic.kr/p/2p62DhY

Yew wood takes five years to season

The Yew tree is an interesting tree and theres no doubt. Incredibly long lived, it is said that the likes of oak or ash may reach maturity in a hundred years, but thats a flash in the pan to the Yew, which isn't considered mature until it reaches 900 years.

The Fortingall Yew for example is one of the oldest trees in Europe. Its in Perthshire and is judged to be between 3000 and 5000 years old. Although I did hear somewhere it was much older than that.

Mine are multiple, and are the ancient oaks that make up Brocton Coppice.

My absolute favourite place on Earth.

Another birch fan here.  I love how the small leaves flutter in the breeze.  They look particularly stunning in the autumn, when the leaves turn a beautiful copper orange/brown.  Like someone's hung a load of twinkling pennies on the tree.

My specific favourites are the two I planted in my garden  - one each to commemorate the birth of each of my two boys.  Thought it would be nice to watch them grow as the boys grow  - and it has been!  They both refer to them as 'my tree '.

I also love the autumnal colour of a nice beech - such a vibrant copper orange.

Tough choice but have a soft spot for silver birch

Wish wisha wisha (Faraway Tree anyone?)

Is it just me that likes weeping willows, hanging in the river, beautiful in reflections, but especially when theyre covered in ice. (?)
Like this:-....

Bristol people. Is the stand of trees on the skyline, over East towards Bath, generally well recognised? Kelston Hill I think?

I have stopped to admire the "roughly symmetrical" form and dazzle of cornus controversa variegata aka wedding cake tree enough times to resolve to plant one in my garden.

@52.791139,-3.8871228,2a,75y,213.34h,95.11t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sV2VjvpBXHfB3Vt_GmSeAGQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?authuser=0&entry=ttu">love the trees @coedy great place for a bbq.

some famous trees in the grauniad today

Drive past this regularly (Its in a field next to Burnley Rd in Mythomroyd) and TBH have no idea of what type of tree it even is. But it looks very out of place in the middle of a field surrounded by lush greenery. Known locally as the 'dead' tree, I think its beautiful always catches the eye when I'm passing.

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Poss my fav is a veteran ash in the middle of the new forest. I love a decent old ash as they are a bit rarer here than oak and beech which are also amazing as old trees. Poss my other fav is a field maple in the autumn showing its dainty yellow leaves in an otherwise green canopy. I think I like most trees, each occupying a niche that just works. Funnily enough sycamore are some of my least favourite trees but obv the sycamore gap tree was perfect in the niche that it once existed in. Same for Scot’s pine on heathlands even Sitka spruce up on the hills or gnarly old yews in churchyards. 

Probably an old oak tree on our childhood dog walking footpath, it had a small split between the roots which me, my sister and the dog could just fit through.  We would crawl inside in near dark and just about be able to stand up.  Dad would then put his arms through another small gap in the roots to scare us!  It’s still standing, I can’t fit in anymore though.

Stow on the Wold Church doorway yew trees are cool if you are a fellow Tolkien nerd.

Visited the local Beech on a dog walk tonight. Another big old branch has come down and the access paths have been fenced off by FE now for safety. Full of White Rot and being left to a "managed decline". Around 350 years old (UK Beeches have a lifespan of 300-400 years apparently).

https://flic.kr/p/2p7zgkA

I’m really quite sad that the lovely Monterey Cypress in Birdham church yard has come down in the recent storms 🙁

It's not as pretty as many of the trees shown above, but I always love seeing this tree and how it has grown through the fence and even retains the pattern in its bark.

This little clump in Teesdale that I used to look at out of my back window.

How did I not see this thread until now?

Anyway... probably beech.

I know they're a bit nasty in the way that they tend to kill off everything else underneath, but I love 'em.

There's a few massive ones around here, amazing things, great root systems showing sometimes too.

Plus they're edible! Tasty leaves & nuts.

Love the smooth bark and running my hand over it feeling the shapes underneath, often looks like muscles.

Big trees are an odd mix of incredible power and utter helplessness: they can smash down walls and grow through concrete, hold up many tons of weight, yet can be cut down or harmed by anyone. I find it very sobering sometimes, sitting there and contemplating it.

Glen Etive, should have fallen into the water a couple of hundred years ago. Always the promise of a good day when I walk past her and also thankfully far enough away from the risk of being sawn at.

Not sure if it's my favourite, but the old yew at Fortingall always hugely impresses me, plus it's on one of my favourite road ride routes. I'd love the Pontius Pilate thing to be true (that he was born under it's shade) but sadly it's almost certainly a myth. Still a lovely tree though.

I love Aspens. They are called tremble in French, which is what the leaves do.

Given my surname (of which my user name is an anagram) I'm a fan of rowans too.

So many that I get to see, could probably narrow it down to a 100. Maybe. 😂

Hard to pick one. There's an amazing sessile oak in Bishop's Knoll in Bristol. Apparently it's 5 planted closely together so they are now one. It's just vast and because of the steep slope you can view it from all sorts of angles.

My kid's favourite is a monkey puzzle that someone has put in the tiny front garden of their 2 bed terrace. It's way past the 'ornate' stage and definitely into the 'problematic' stage as it's already taller than the house. Glad I'm not their neighbour. I find it fascinating that a tree originating from so far away seems to thrive anywhere.

Their other favourite is the crumpetty tree which is of course fictional 😉

This is a Blackbutt ( eucalyptus pilularis) about halfway up my driveway.

 I love coming home to it. Probably about 100 years old.

A few years back the crown came down across the drive, which tends to happen. It was home to cockatoos.