Do You Have a Favorite Tree?

The holiday of Tu BiShvat is coming, so obviously, I've got trees on the brain.

Today as I drove to work, the trees were coated in a gorgeous shiny shellacking of ice. It's almost as beautiful as a coating of snow. They glittered in the sunlight.

Yesterday, I was at a gathering in which I was asked for my favorite tree. Only one creative soul in the group had a favorite, and it was her NEW favorite. Meaning that she previously had an OLD favorite tree.

Both were pretty cool.

She likes this one (the OLD favorite)

Image from National Geographic

and this one (the NEW favorite):

Image from Wikipedia

I was impressed.
Do I have a favorite tree?

I like the trees in the fall when they change color. I love the different kinds of leaves and the way that they become different colors - some are supremely red, shockingly bright. Some have different colors as they blow in the wind, and they ripple with beauty. Some are silvery or purple-hued.

I love a good weeping willow - so grand and majestic, yet somehow sad because of their name.

I tell stories about apple trees a lot, it seems, and they are so friendly with their branches heavy with fruit. In the summer, I love to sit under any nice cool shady tree and peek at the blue sky above. I dream of perfect birch trees in which to perch my children and take their perfect photos.

But even though all sorts of trees are nice, I think it is in the darkest dark of coldest cold winter that I start to dream about this kind of tree:

Image from Wikipedia

Do you have a favorite tree?