The old and the new!

Liquidambar styraciflua, aka sweet gum. From HowStuffWorks: “Its fruit cluster is a round ball often persisting in winter, as if the naked branches had been hung with woody Christmas ornaments.” I’m happy someone else sees it that way: that is precisely why I have persisted to get a shot this week. In this case, I captured the new growth along with the “woody Christmas ornaments.” Thankfully there are none in our immediate neighborhood: the “sticker-balls” are a nuisance!

Species page at PhytoImages, http://phytoimages.siu.edu/cgi-bin/dol/dol_terminal.pl?taxon_name=Liquidambar_styraciflua&rank=binomial

[Rick Schies]

And I'm sure you have a few choice words should one happen to find its way to your head.

[Jen Dee]

Great photo! I like the old and new combined.

[Lindsey B]

Nice juxtaposition. My street is lined with these things, and those nuisance sticker balls embed themselves everywhere!

[Wendy]

Great shot!

[Sharon Lowe]

I really like this shot. The composition,the silhouetting...Nice!

[Cindy Kutchey]

I like the balance of this pic. Something calming about it.

[Thom Mitchell]

@digitalrn Knock on a sweet gum tree, but I've never had the misfortune!
@jendee3 Getting some branches with both was good fortune!
@sharkeyshark @exposure4u @sharonlowe @cynak Thank you, Lindsey, Wendy, Sharon & Cindy! I don't know how many images I deleted after I found this one. I really wanted to get one of these prickly guys and the angles from the ground didn't always work well but this one did!

[Tari]

I like the shot too, but hate the darn balls! They are EVERYWHERE around here!!