Some Trees and Stuff

I don't know enough about trees. I bought a guide book but still, I sorely lack the expertise in identifying trees. I can ID the simple ones.
Birch
Oak
Maple
Pine
Box Elder
and the much disliked tree
the Buckthorn.
I am currently working on trying to figure out how to kill some of them off without nasty sprays. Chopping them makes them branch out. I am wondering if 'girding' them will work.

I do however adore the not much loved Hawthorne Tree:

I adore the shape of the leaves and the flowers that appear in spring.

The color and shape are very pretty. The thorns? Probably not so much.

I like the wild apple trees that grow in the Meadow next to us.

In the fall I do pick as many apples as I can and make juice, jelly, and dehydrate them in slices covered with cinnamon and sugar. They make a great treat while hiking in the winter.

In the spring I do like to go around and take photos of the trees when they 'flower'. After that, I lose interest in them again until fall when they show me their colors again.

Each year I am encouraged and try to wander around to figure out what the trees are by their bark, or their shape. However in a thick forest, ... the shapes get lost.
And then I get caught up by more interesting things.

Like rocks.
Or Fungi.
Or picking berries.

I don't seem as if I can ever stick with it.

Perhaps this year I can do better.