Indiana State Bird and Indiana State Tree

Here a cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) finds its Friday morning breakfast at the tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) at Purdue Horticulture Gardens. The seed cones of the tulip tree provide food for seed-eating birds like the cardinal even this late in the winter. Pictures taken February 19. 2010.

Link to Cardinalis cardinalis:

Link to Indiana State Tree/Indiana State Bird:

Link to previous post on this same tulip tree in December:

Crimson Spire Oaks

This row of oak trees just west of the Horticulture greenhouses are Crimson Spire oaks (Quercus x bimundorum ‘Crimschmidt’), which are a hybrid between the native white oak (Quercus alba) and the English oak (Quercus robur). Pictures taken February 1, 2010.

The Crimson Spire oak pictured is number 14 on the Purdue tree trail (Green Trail).

Link to Quercus robur:

Link to Quercus robur: