H2O

Yesterday, I learned that pin oaks, bald cypress, and green ash are all swamp dwellers. So what are they doing on the sidewalks of Brooklyn? Water, after all, is the biggest issue for street trees. The pin oak, quercus palustris, in particularly, is ominipresent on the sidewalks. True, the bald cypress isn't so common, but there are a trio of them outside the 1000 Washington Ave entrance to the BBG that are doing nicely, thank you very much. It's because these three species are genetically adapted to the murky waters of swamps and hollers, so they can take the low levels of oxygen often found in the compacted soil of tree pits. They are tough little bastards.

By the way, the pic I have below of Dawn Redwood bark maybe bald cypress. My bad. There's a dawn redwood right next to the three baldies, hence my confusion. Both species are non-evergreen conifers; they shed their needles. But now that their new needles are coming in, you can see that the redwood has oppositely arranged leaves (needles are leaves) and is much more pyramidal in overall shape, while the baldy has alternate leaves and is rounder at the top.