Arbor Day Foundation

 Now if you have time to burn and a lack of funds, but want to add more trees to your patch on the planet, you might want to give the Arbor Day Foundation a quick look. Now these are seedlings, which is the nice way to say glorified sticks with potential. 

 Really though.. trees add to property value and if you have ever been house hunting, you will notice the ones with trees seem more attractive than the cute house on the barren lot. You can create a sense of privacy, create a wind screen, and help create a cool refuge in summer. 

 I want more trees. I neeeeeeeed more trees. I am in a rather unforgiving location, but dammit.. I will have my trees. Right now I am coddling a volunteer baby Douglas Fir. That sentence is three times bigger than the tree. Aspens are pretty... from a distance.. but they are a soft wood and not exactly the longest lived. 

 Although such small trees require TLC, there is a bonus. Better root system development first off. When it comes to trees that produce a crop of fruit or nuts... a well developed root system is a massive bonus. 

 Although oak trees instantly bring me back to being a kid ....and having to rake 2 acres of leaves until the whole inside of my hands were blistered and shredded.. and the sound of billions of acorns crunching under tires in the driveway that then needed to be swept up daily.. ok oak trees give me nightmares. Seriously... they are also one of those great creepy trees all gnarled and lumpy.. seeming to reach out at you at night. Only ones more spooky are the moss covered groves in the south lol. I like oak....as flooring or maybe a nice piece of furniture.

 Redbuds will always be a favorite. After a rain the bark is almost black and the vivid intense pink flowers had this ability to fight back the rainy gloom. When I see pictures of Redbuds it is almost always on a sunny day.. they fail to capture it's magic.

 Yes.. I love trees. I appreciate them immensely. They offer shelter, food, comfort and so much more. They also can teach you a lesson.. like the one my next older sister learned... the only thing worse than biting into an apple and finding a worm.. is biting in and finding only half a worm.