Yet the tree has a dark side that haunts many, including reader Shane in Lakewood, who writes, “My question to you is regarding adding black walnut tree leaves and fruits to my compost pile.

Tree-ring increment cores collected from bigcone Douglas fir trees growing on Mount Pinos in Southern California. Each growth ring is a couplet of light colored spring wood and dark colored summer ...

F. D. Richards / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0. Dark green, glossy leaves emerge later in the spring than those of most plants, just as the flowers are at peak bloom. This differs from Chinese fringe tree ...