Don't you love blue sky pictures?  Me too.  I especially love seeing Sycamores in winter poking their white branches up into the blue sky.

 

Platanus occidentalis.  I remember that because the leaves are as big as dinner plates, 6-10 inches across!   Well, no leaves now, but they are still quite distinctive.  

 

Sycamores are very large, growing up to 130 feet; some trees living 500-600 years!!!!  And they have this wonderful, mottled bark that flakes off like puzzle pieces, revealing yellowish or whitish underbark.  They also hold onto their hanging ball seed clusters almost all winter.  

 

They are easy to spot at 55 mph.  Just look up for white branches with decorations hanging all over them.  

 

I promised I'd be back...I just had to find something interesting to talk about.  

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!