Mesquite

If you leave a piece of land for a while, these short, knarly trees will take it over.  They're not beautiful like a big shady oak, or lush Mulberry tree, but if you look at a knotted up old one they have their own beauty...just watch out for those spikes...every barefoot child at my house has had at least one of these beasties stuck in their foot at some point ouch! 

They are always a little later getting their leaves, this little sprout by the fence has just started and the oak tree is almost all green already...but he will hold up to the rough spring thunderstorms and the summer heat and will be the last to lose his leaves come fall.