If You Go Down To The Woods Today . . .

Trees - they are beautiful, magnificent plants and for most of us, I am sure they played a huge part in all of our childhoods - climbing them, rope swings, treehouses, apple scrumping!!

Of course, trees can play a big part in decorating our homes, inside and out.
Most of us have a tree in the house at Christmas, although mainly artificial ones these days. And in our gardens, trees provide shade and structure and a specimen tree can provide a great focal point with appropriate planting around it.

The glory of the blossom of a magnolia tree!

The dazzling colours of the foliage of Japanese maples.

Bonsai: the art of beautiful, indoor, miniature trees!

There a huge variety of trees all over the world, both deciduous and evergreen. So many different leaf shapes and so many different sizes!!

The elegant weeping willow.

The giant sequoia trees!!

The baobab trees of Africa.

The needles of a coniferous tree are designed to reduce surface area exposed to the air, and hence, to decrease the loss of water through evaporation.

Exotic palm trees.

But as well as providing us with timber and with pleasure, trees, woodland and forests are also absolutely vital to the well-being of this planet. A single tree supports a whole ecosystem of its own, as well as benefitting everything around it by taking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and pumping valuable oxygen out in exchange.
We all know the importance the rainforests of this world play in the planet’s ecosystem.

There are few things more relaxing than a stroll through ancient woodland.

Trees can be fun for all sorts of reasons!!

Do you have any favourite kinds of trees?
Were you a tree-climber as a child? Or do you spend some of your leisure time in woods and forests?
Do you like trees in your garden for their leaves or their blossom, and if so, which are your chosen ones?
Please share anything about trees, woods and forests: pictures, gifs, music or videos . . . all contributions are welcome!!

All are welcome. And please feel free to recommend and share all discussions you enjoy.

There is no obligation to follow any of our informal themes. They are simply for fun. This is an open topic chat thread, so please just post or talk about anything you like!