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Junipers are not the trees you think of associated with the drizzly Pacific Northwest. But they are old friends from home in the much drier south, much to the dismay of many pollen allergy sufferers there. The male trees can be so prolific it looks like smoke in the air. For this and other misinformed reasons, there is a trend of hating these trees, which are in fact native to this area across the south though they are spreading in an unhistorical way. To my endless annoy

Cottonwood trees (Populus balsamifera ssp. trichocarpa, P. deltoides and B. fremontii) have a love-hate relationship with people. Some people are allergic to them, had fire damage because of them, or simply have to sweep a lot more. But then they are also thought of as sacred, useful and even a bit edible tree. Not the “cotton” though, so don’t get a head of me. [No… come back here!] They are more than just the mismatched name. These trees are quietly special; very hu