We have lots of Cottonwood trees in our area. They are beautiful trees, providing shade, homes to birds, and shelter to those in need.
Every year thier blooms turn into seeds…just like everything else in the plant world.
The seeds look like cotton.
The wind flings those little cotton seeds far and wide, so the ground around, under and several feet away from the tree looks like it snowed in June.
(They are terribly allergy producing, also)
So there you are…a tree found along creeks, streams and rivers. A sure mark of water for pioneers or those traveling across this bright beautiful land of ours.
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 
We almost never had snow where I grew up, but we DID have cottonwoods! There are a few small ones around here now, but nothing like the creekside giants from my childhood. One of them was so wide, my brother and I couldn’t link hands around its trunk – and it was hollow… Best place to play on the whole creek.
Thanks for bringing that memory back, Linda…
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That’s a huge cottonwood! You’re absolutely right, they are a sure sign of water, especially here in the desert.
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What a very interesting looking tree. Thanks for sharing the pictures and story with us, Linda. 🙂
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Yes, we are up to our eyes in “cotton” here, too. Any wet place is a fluff pile, and even the lawn looks like it has dandruff. The elm trees have shed their “flying saucers” in drifts along the street so it is a messy time of year. But thank heavens for the shade and windbreak from these big trees.
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Cool, I love learning something new and useful. I never knew to connect cottonwoods with water.
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I love those trees. Watching all that ‘cotton’ float down is neat.
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Very neat looking tree! Wish I had one on my property!
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We’re wading in cotton here too……just started today.
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That is a huge cottonwood. I remember collecting the fluff when I was a little girl. That and milkweed pods.
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It’s fun to watch your season progress. Ours is a few weeks behind you. We’ll be eating cotton everytime we open our mouths about July 15! Hope you are enjoying retirement!
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I enjoyed learning about the Cottonwood. Can imagine how it would cause allergy havoc. They’re quite large with lots of cover, the birds would love them.
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How cool!
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Wonder if you could spin it like real cotton…
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I read about cottonwoods in books and I always thought they were a kind we didn’t have in Europe, now with your beautiful pictures in mind, I looked it up and found out we DO have them! They are called american poplars here or sometimes canada’s (an almost similar kind of poplars) and they are often planted near water. The world suddenly becomes smaller with this knowledge 🙂
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My mother used to despise the cottonwood tree. One year she raked piles of cotton and set them on fire on a windy day. Almost burned our place down. She blamed the tree. She also hated the fruit trees because the fruit made a mess, or because she felt obligated to pick and preserve it all, or because people “stole” the fruit. She was always sawing a tree down. Luckily trees grow fast here. She’s been gone for 27 years and the house is surrounded by their cool greenery.
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I think they must have driven the pioneer women nuts when they didn’t have screen doors or windows to keep the cotton out..it does look like snow. Many of those seeds will germinate too..we use the Cottonwood Bark to carve with..so it is good for something..only the female trees have cotton..and you cannot tell by looking under their leaves either to tell which ones they are:)
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