A Quaking Aspen tree with green bark in the parking lot at the AMC Highland Center at Crawford Notch. When I think of a "cheery" tree, I think of quaking aspens. Why cheery you might ask?

I was up in the White Mountains this weekend, walking out to my car in the AMC’s Highland Center parking lot after a hike, and there between the buildings and the cars was a gorgeous aspen tree ...

Populus tremuloides, the quaking ... spring when flowering and leafing-out occur (in that order). Aspen occur as males and females separately (dioecious), unlike the majority of tree species ...

Quaking aspen can receive a lot of inset visitors ... of sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana). As this beautiful flowering tree loves damp soil, it can persist through the transitionary ...