Mystery solved!

Congratulations to Tina Aulicino of Massapequa who nearly correctly identified yesterday's mystery plant. She writes: "I grew up with tulip maple tree in my front yard. I think this plant is a tulip maple."

The tree actually is a tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), but since no one else came forward with that precise ID (responses included poison ivy, poison oak, sassafras, fig, and so on), she gets my copy of "The Revolutionary Yardscape," by Matthew Levesque.

Tulip poplars are fast-growing trees that can reach 20 feet tall in as little as six years. They're covered in flowers that resemble tulips in spring, hence the name, and foliage puts on a bright yellow show in fall. They're also the state trees of Kentucky.