Atlanta Beltline Tour Group

Atlanta Beltline Tour Group

Jan 13, 2024

This Week's Tour...

...met at 9:00AM Saturday on the Beltline Eastside Trail near Parish (R.I.P...soon to reopen as "Painted Park"!). We walked for 1 1/2 hours, covering 1 mile of the Beltline, ending at Ponce City Market.

"The Tourists"...
What a great group! Braved the cold! England by way of Gainesville, Florida!  Mix of longtime Atlanta residents and newbies! I hope I earned the privilege of your time.


Thanks for a great tour!

Pic of the week...
...is a bird I misidentified!

In the bare branches of one fringe trees lining the trail in the "Peace"-themed section of the arboretum, I called out a "Dark Eyed Junco" sighting. OOPS! Upon consulting the interwebs, I  confirmed it was actually an Eastern Phoebe. But I won't be too harsh on myself...they are pretty similar in size and color (see below)! 

Eastern Phoebe
Dark Eyed Junco

Thanks, Cornell Labs!!

Tree of the week...
...is going to be ALL OF THEM.

One of our intrepid tourists was interested specifically in growing her tree identification knowledge. It can be tough during the winter, since leaves are such an integral part of identification, but here is the list of the trees I pointed out along the trail:

  • Fringe trees (Chionanthus retusus)
  • Chickasaw plum (Prunus angustifolia)
  • Shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata)
  • Cathedral live oak (Quercus virginiana)
  • Georgia oak (Quercus georgiana)
  • American Beech (Fagus grandifolia)
  • Sawtooth oak (Quercus acutissima, non-native)
  • Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides)
  • Pignut hickory (Carya glabra)
  • Blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica..not sweet gum...ew)
  • Lots of oaks (genus Quercus), including white swamp, southern red, chinquapin
  • Carolina and Canada Hemlocks (Tsuga caroliniana and canadensis)
  • Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora)
  • Southern red oak (Quercus falcata)
  • Scarlett oak (Quercus coccinea...remember Cochineal bugs...a source of red dye)
  • - ...and then oak hill with all 33 native oak species
...and follow this link to Trees Atlanta's "Interactive Tree Inventory Map" to see them all!


Pignut Hickory

"Stump" of the week...
...featuring a question raised during the tour that Jeff couldn't answer.


Q: What are all the themes of the arboretum?

A: Well...Jeff is going to have to do some more research; there appears to be no Beltline Arboretum plans published on the interwebs! On the tour, we mentioned some of the themes that helped guide the tree and shrub selections - Medicine (near Morehouse College of Medicine), Peace (connecting MLK Jr Center and Carter Center), and Olmstead (running north of Freedom Parkway). I'll see if I can find out more!  See Trees Atlanta Beltline Arboretum and Piedmont Park.

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