A tree by the water at Frear Park

There's a tree by the water at Frear Park with balls hanging from it, like a sycamore, but I don't think it's a sycamore.  What could it be?

It's always hard to get good pictures of bud patterns on twigs, but both the picture above and the one below show that the buds are alternate.

This close-up of an end bud shows it is reddish in color.  And it looks like it is starting to open.

The bark is speckled with white.

Japanese maple leaves on the tree and on the sidewalk below

This picture was taken after it had rained, and there were marks of wetness around the leaves on the sidewalk.

Night photos of autumn leaves

We've come to that time of year when it's dark when I leave work, so I tried taking some photos in the dark on the way home from work. Norway maple:

Beech:

Tree at Oakwood with compound leaves

I saw this tree at Oakwood Cemetery. Alternate compound leaves. Alternate compound leaves could be hickory, except these seem to have three leaflets, and hickories seem to have more than three. I didn't spend much time studying this tree. Did it really have three leaflets? Hoptree has three leaflets, but hoptree is short. I'll have to go back and observe more carefully.

Ash and locust

Last Monday, my neighborhood was yellow with ash and locust.  Today, it's still yellow with locust.  Some of the ash trees are mostly bare, while some still have many leaves.  It seems like the older, larger ones are more likely to still have leaves.

Summer leaves

What I love about summer is gazing up into layer upon layer of lush green leaves.

July 16, 2012:

July 16, 2012:

August 16, 2012:

August 23, 2012:

Amur maple

I saw a tree with opposite, lobed leaves.  Probably some kind of maple? The name that popped into my head was amur maple.  When I got home, I checked my books.  Yes, amur maple was the maple that most resembled the tree I saw.  I hadn't even known that amur maple was a tree I know.  That has happened before.  That's the way I like to learn trees -- I look at pretty pictures in the book, and they sneak into my brain without my knowing it.