Finding the Witch Hazel Tree

I am surrounded by trees. There are pines, oaks, maples, honey locust tree, and dead ash trees. I have a few favorite types of trees.

I love the wild apple trees in the meadow, especially in the spring. Their blossoms and fill the air with a heavenly scent.

The Hawthorne tree is still one of my favorites. Yes, it has thorns, and in the spring, it has the most interesting flowers. In the fall, the leaves can be all hues of orange, brown, and rust colors.

Most noticeable are the maples and the oaks of course. 

Most of these trees are very easy to identify.

This spring I started to PAY attention to some of the trees or very large shrubs that grow along our road. Last winter I found bittersweet fruit while taking photos of the incredible frost formations on the ridge.

I've cut twisted vines from this section of the woods to use in craft projects and decorations for my Christmas tree but I'd never give much thought to the plant itself.

I thought it would be fun to try and see if I could follow this bush through the year.

In May it blossomed, but I was not even sure if it was the bittersweet.

[I finally got it ID'd just a week or so ago as a bittersweet blossom.]

There is no denying the ID of the plant once it starts to develop its telltale orange fruit.

Here is a tree/bush that I didn't even know we had. I was at my son's in Kenosha in June and fell in love with a couple of beautiful bushes he had. 

So I have been watching this bush/tree all summer. Here is what it looked like in May----->

I labeled this photo. I don't know.

Sunday morning I took this photo and decided to try identifying this. It was so pretty!

Yes! A Dogwood! Identified as probably a Grey Dogwood. I did a bit of a happy dance when I figured it out. The berries will disappear quickly I guess as the birds love it.
About a mile down the gravel road there are about 10 to 15 of these! 

We all know what an oak looks like but here is a spring photo of the leaves coming out.

I included the next photo because of the beautiful Monarch that was resting in the cool air of the morning. I was so please to have the super duper long lens with me, I didn't have to disturb the Monarch.

I understand that there are 12 different species of Dogwood trees. Some have red fruit and some have purple fruit.
I will be keeping an eye on this hedgerow of trees and bushes. 

The one below is a chokecherry tree, this was full of Orioles during their nesting time.
We used to make chokecherry jelly and grandma used to use chokecherry juice with gelatin to make her own home made jello. 

This is an Elderberry tree. They are hard to control when they grow in pastures. Though apparently you can make jelly out of the berries and they have some sort of medicinal properties too.

Hickory Bitternut. I think. I have a Shagbark Hickory in our yard. 

I was really searching high and low for Witch Hazel. I was sure some were growing around this area. After 3 days of looking, I grabbed this cell phone photo of what could be a Witch Hazel. 
Time will tell because this tree flowers in November!

I am going to go back and see if I can find it again. I certainly would not want to miss the interesting flowers this tree puts out so late in the year. I'd post a photo of the bright interesting flowers, but I don't want to 'grab' and use someone else's photo. 

You can see Witch Hazel flowers here:

US Forestry site

Trees other than the common ones have always been a mystery to me. So this is one more item I am trying to learn about.