Thanks - I can see the resemblence, but the leaves appear to be v different to stewartia monodelpha. I think its an ornamental cherry of some kind!

I stand by the decision. Looked too good to walk by!

Ha - yes, a poor substitue for the teasle, though mine is sadly on its way out already...

I love it. Such a moving song about accepting loss and change

I did not - just looked it up though! The spiky head was used to lift fibers on wool fabric to make it softer, called teaseling

I love that this plant is someone's favorite. Native over there. Of course it's invasive over here. And personally it's way too "spikey" for my liking. 😂

I do like this beech, to the extent I framed a previous photo I took of it!

We might need to consider the effect of the Earth’s long-term axial tilt cycle here also…