The Tulip Tree

I have posted various pictures of our tulip tree (or 'Liriodendron') on Facebook as it never ceases to amaze me:

1. How fast it has grown
2. How cool the leaves are
3. How cool the flowers are
4. And how much it changes year to year.
5. (2018/3/10 update: see last picture)

So here are some random notes, including a short history of our tree.

We got it for our back yard back in Oct, 2007 from the 'LEAF' program, and at the time we were told that there were two types - one that grew to about 40ft (ours allegedly) and one that grew to about 60ft. (Check out the first link to see how these may be vast underestimates!)

Some maps of their distribution show them not being native to Ontario, but Ontario Trees&Shrubs (scroll to the bottom) shows it as being in various places thorughout the province.

Here's the new tree in 2007! (Click any picture to enlarge)

(Spoiler alert: The two trees to the left eventually get pushed out due to the shade). So, perhaps 8-10ft tall at this point. By Oct. 2009 it seems to have made itself at home:

Still no flowers - we thought perhaps the leaves looked a bit like tulips in cross-section, but that's not how it got its name! According to Wikipedia (and other references)

The Scientific Greek Liriodendron actually means "lily tree"

Perhaps the Greeks had never seen tulips?

Skip ahead a couple more years (Sept. 2011) and the construction next-door may have slowed it down a bit. However it's over 20ft tall by now. Still no flowers though.

Aug. 2014 and it's about 30ft tall...

...and the leaves are getting big.

(well, to a fly).

Lovely colour in the fall:

And a couple of  pictures by Jon (to help us forget how many leaves we actually have to rake):

Speaking of leaves, it does keep us busy in the fall.

It cuts a fine figure in winter and at night too. This picture was illuminated by me waving a flashlight around while the shutter was open.

And then finally, we saw (the late season shell of) a flower!

So what do these *really* look like? We were lucky enough to have a few in 2016, then a veritable flood in 2017. And they look like this:

The tree is now pushing 40ft tall. I expect it will suddenly stop growing, so as to not prove the 'LEAF' program wrong, since tulip trees are known to be very considerate of our feelings.

2018/3/10: Just when it seemed that there couldn't possibly be anything else to talk about for this tree :-) I saw the remains of multitudes of last year's 'tulips' in the tree. And this after 3 months of winter, rain, ice, etc! Gives a good idea of how many flowers there were last year, compared the the handful the previous year.