Look at this little beauty. Wait a cotton-pickin' minute! Looking closely I could see that this year's growth was actually coming out of last year's growth. You can see the different color bark. I went and looked at the other hundreds of cottonwoods; it was the same story. Somehow, these trees got started last year or even earlier. I guess I'll have to look elsewhere to see this years seedlings. Maybe I should wait a month or so.

On the other hand, I might be wrong...these could be brand new trees. But, still, they look pretty big.