Seasons of the Tulip Tree: Almost Full Circle

We’ve been following a neighborhood Tulip Tree as it cycles through the seasons. The last time we posted photos was way back on June 18, when the seeds were green, but ripening. The seeds remained that way through most the summer, then gradually started turning brown. Once the leaves had turned bright yellow in late October, the seeds looked like this:

The Tulip Tree seeds are framed by yellow leaves. Also note the duck-bill shaped bud to the left of the seeds.

Soon the leaves were swept off the tree by a wind-drive rain, and something — probably squirrels — found the ripened seeds to their liking. Here is one of the last remaining seed clusters, photographed in early November:

This was one of the last seed clusters remaining on the Tulip Tree.

Once the seeds have all been eaten or fallen to the ground, the tree will be back to where it started last spring.

You can see our first photos of Tulip Tree buds at the bottom of this post from April 8, 2009.

Go here for our most complete post about Tulip Trees, which starts with the flowers and then goes back in time to how the tree looked as the buds were opening.