Admittedly, he'd be prodding the trees/notably impressive plants for any sense of awareness, but generally no, not sentience (UNLESS??), but just like anything that might feel notably different from normal plant life.

Where normal plants are just vague impressions of growth, sunlight, hydration, soil- or lack thereof for things not thriving.

Like if the plants are thriving in spite of subpar conditions, or if they're maybe growing as a result of something magical rather than natural- those would be strange impressions.