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TOPIC: Tree in Steeple
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/75b7ee72b9b145b8?hl=en
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== 1 of 6 ==
Date: Mon, Jun 2 2008 5:09 am
From: "R. Heard"


This maybe the tallest but smallest native I've ever seen growing in a
totally unlikely place, the Townhall Steeple of Greensburg, Indiana.
Was driving through last Friday and it caught my eye. Specie unknown
so will need to go back to climb the Steeple, ID the tree and find out
how this could be possible to grow in such an unlikely place (get pics
of roots in the roof, and why it's never been removed! Anyone closer
to Greensburg would save me a 800 mile trip?

== 2 of 6 ==
Date: Mon, Jun 2 2008 5:48 am
From: Larry


R.Heard, That's one of the most unusual places I've seen a tree
growing, nature will find a way! Thanks for sharing the photo, way
cool! Larry

== 3 of 6 ==
Date: Mon, Jun 2 2008 5:53 am
From: Larry


R. Heard, Looking at the photo the tree almost looks like a young
Live Oak. Do you have a higher resolution photo? If so send it to
tuceijr@msn.com Way cool photo, I would guess someone planted this
tree. Larry

== 4 of 6 ==
Date: Mon, Jun 2 2008 6:53 am
From: "R. Heard"


After some online research here's the link to the Tree in the Steeple story
It's a Mulberry.

http://www.decaturcounty.in.gov/Greensburg's_Famous_Tower_Tree.htm 

Treeinsteeple3.jpg

== 5 of 6 ==
Date: Mon, Jun 2 2008 7:44 am
From: James Parton


Mr. Heard,

Definitly an oddity. Cool! I wonder how long it has been up there.
Possibly a large part of 100 years.

James P.

== 6 of 6 ==
Date: Mon, Jun 2 2008 5:16 pm
From: Randy Brown


Geez that thing is freaky!

I would guess it's a native Red Mulberry (as opposed to the introduced
white mulberry):

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/DENDRO/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=58 

They are pretty commonly found in fence rows and edges of woods and
have a pretty distinct look to them. We had a big one that grew next
to our house where I grew up, which fruited prolifically for 2 months
straight in the summertime. The thing was a major bird magnet, and
the ground underneath was covered in bird poo and fallen fruit the
whole time (My dad hated that tree, but we whined and made him keep
it). We also had a wind break made of pine trees, where the birds
roosted. Needless to say, once the tree got large enough for the
bottoms to thin out a bit, the unmowed areas underneath became filled
with mulberry seedlings.

Surprisingly, the fruit is actually quite good, nice and sweet, but
not too seedy. It's sorta of like a tougher version on a raspberry.

My only big question is what it that things' roots doing to the inside
of the steeple? Is there a big pile of bat/pigeon poo on the hollow
inside that it is feeding on or something?

I have never seen a tree growing like that. At a restaurant/hotel in
St. Petersburg, IL they have trees growing through the roof. I'll
post the pics I have of them in the files.

Beth

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TOPIC: Fwd: Re: Tree ID
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/b6bea9129db8e8eb?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Tues, Jun 3 2008 5:31 pm
From: Beth Koebel


James,

Here is the answer to the tree ID growing through the
roof in Petersburg, IL.
Beth




Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 20:22:09 EDT
Subject: Re: Tree ID
To: beth_koebel

Sure -- the one toward the south end is a columnar maple of some type, now
losing its form; the middle one is a seedling fastigiate oak (also with poor
form); and the northern one is 'Riverbank Oak', a hybrid of Quercus robur
'Fastigiata' pollinated by Quercus bicolor. The Riverbank Lodge owners in
Petersburg selected that tree as their company emblem and logo, and it's the
pistillate parent of several of our own oak hybrid selections. You can see a
stylized logo based upon it on their web site --
( http://www.riverbanklodge.com ) .