allée of plane trees

the allées of plane trees that line the roads in and out of towns in southern france are one of my favorite things in the world. although sycamores are plane trees’ north american cousins, we don’t really have sycamores in the north, and so i find everything about these trees extraordinary–their patterned bark that looks like camouflage, their majestic size and long lives, their broad maple-shaped leaves that create such refreshing shade, and of course, the whimsical pom-pom seeds that dangle from their branches in fall.

plane tree seeds (Platanus)