Hrmm... Sounds like a "one off" case, which are hard to track down. "Talk to" means right-click and use the "greet" command (whereas you'd otherwise take branch, chop, etc). So if you chopped it down, the option should have been there.
If it happens again, get a screenshot of the tree with the quest pointer and flower menu open if you can so it's obvious it's the right place.