June 12 - Ann's fav tree

Ann's favorite tree is the smoketree.

It is native to the South and the natural smoketree doesn't grow well this far north and even when it does grow, it is usually just a shrub.

However, at the National Arboretum, they have been breeding improved varieties of many plants and they have produced a subspecies that not only thrives this far north but also gets tall.

This tree was near the dawn redwoods. 

The Arboretum has also done a lot of work creating winter hardy azaleas (most of the azaleas in the DC area are offspring of Arboretum created subspecies) and a winter hardy camellia (many of the camellia currently being sold locally are descended from one plant that survived some harsh winters in the 70s in the DC area).