Plant a Tree!
Let’s celebrate Arbor Day!!
If you live in the USA and you click on this link, https://www.arborday.org/states/ , you will find a map that tells you what kinds of trees grow well in your area.
Are you in a tropical area?
Do fruit or nut trees thrive where you are?
The Arbor Day Foundation suggested other ways, besides planting, to celebrate the proliferation and appreciation of our trees. Here are things we can do from the safety of our homes:
- Connecting with teachers in your area to raise students’ awareness of Arbor Day with online lessons related to trees.
- Researching the history of the day.
- Writing a poem about trees, or drawing a picture of your favorite tree.
- Sponsoring a contest of students’ drawings using photos of their artwork submitted by the students.
- Reading a book about trees and then donating it to a library, a school, a teacher, or a child.
- Educating yourself and others about caring for trees, proper pruning, and planting times.
- Bringing Arbor Day inside with container gardening, herb plants, or a bonsai tree.
- Making plans for planting projects, so that when you can execute them, you’ll be all set to go!
Favorite Trees
What are your favorite trees? Here are some of mine:
- Evergreen – they are solid and unchanging, providing shelter for birds and small animals, giving us a sense of greenness year round.
- Aspen – Aspen trees are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high-altitude areas such as mountains or high plains. They are all medium-sized deciduous trees reaching 49–98 ft. tall. The Aspen is noted for its ability to regenerate vegetatively by shoots and suckers arising along its long lateral roots.
- Bur and Chestnut Oak Tree – Bur oak or mossycup oak is a North American deciduous tree widely distributed across the U.S., Southeastern Montana, and Northeastern Wyoming. Chestnut oak is a member of the white oak group with chestnut-like leaves. The chestnut oak is noted for its ability to survive on steep, rocky sites where other oaks in its range cannot. Foliage unfurls pink and becomes silvery before finally becoming dark green. The chestnut oak is also known for its beautiful silvery-white bark.
Evergreens… pine, spruce, juniper and cypress
When these trees were planted around our house,
the house was visible… not anymore!
It rarely changes color to this beautiful gold.
The leaves just freeze before fall comes in full glory.
But the ones planted a little farther from the house are beautiful.
Are these Aspen?
We see groves like this when we go riding on our ATV in the fall.
This oak tree had to have been planted at least a hundred years ago! They grow slowly… but they become massive and majestic. See why they are treasured for the shade they provide?
What is YOUR favorite tree?
Better get started now…
Happy Planting.
Happy Arbor Day!
Give some tree the gift of green again.Let one bird sing.
—From “When Autumn Came” by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
translated by Naomi Lazard
See ya later.
I’m gonna go sit under a tree and sing.
Virtual Hugs,
JanBeek
