A first look at Georgia

 What’s the Georgia Piedmont like?

Let’s start with all these tulip trees.
These big, tall trees that are have turned bright yellow are Liriodendron tulipifera. I think people around here call them tulip trees or yellow poplars.

The reference to tulips is twofold: after the shape of the flowers and also the shape of the leaves. I’ll have to wait until spring to see the flowers, but the leaves do have a striking shape — maybe a Bauhaus take on a tulip.

We had temperatures near freezing last week, but the pines and oaks in the forest are still deep green. The yellow leaves of the tulip trees and the red leaves of the sumacs grab your attention.

Liriodendron tulipifera does not grow in Central Texas, so it’s a wonder to me.

I’ve seen a couple of interesting things from the scientists about this tree.

First, some say that tulip trees made up to 20 percent of the original forest around here, which is mostly oak and hickory. The pines came in as a result of human settlement. Those pioneers loved to log tulip trees. Daniel Boone’s big canoe was made from one.

Second, some scientists say that the gradual disappearance of tulip trees is a just part of a natural progression in an old forest. Tulip trees might be the dominant species in a 150-year-old stand, but not in a 500-year-old stand.

I, of course, don’t know. I don’t know much about tulip trees or the piedmont. I’ve got a lot to learn.