Monday morning cup of thoughts
Ask me how much I love trees...
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. -Â Chinese Proverb
I have had a love affair with trees/gardens for as long as I can remember. I’ve been having fun looking through old photos recently, and I realize it’s not a surprise I love to garden.
When I purchased my first house in my 20s, a view of trees outside my windows was more important to me than the view inside the house. And these many years later, when I stress about the fire danger each year, I don’t think about moving because any place I would consider moving would need to have trees, so I would likely not be reducing my fire risk.
Just a few facts worth knowing— in one year, an acre of trees can absorb as much carbon as is produced by a car driven up to 8700 miles. Trees provide shade and shelter, reducing yearly heating and cooling costs by 2.1 billion dollars.
We’ll be enjoying this view in a few weeks. The tree is just beginning to change colors. The view only lasts a few weeks, but for that period of time it is a glorious part of each day.
Oh, I love this! Someone asked a Zen priest: what is the greatest form of life. And s/he said, The tree. It lives in the moment, in its own footprint. It gives air to its neighbors, it feeds multitudes, and when it dies it turns into a thousand lives.
We have five acres of glorious trees. Four species of pine, three species of oak, big leaf maples, grandfather cedars, giant madrones, and our orchard. I treasure each one. This year, our little magnolia died, first boiling in 2021's 110 degrees, then frozen by the cold snap in April. Our scarlet tupelo suffered too, and I'm not sure it 's going to make it. But the natives have gritted their teeth and settled in for the long haul. All cut way back on leaf and needle production this year, and the pines are in visible needle-die-off. But it seems, knock beautiful wood, that the pine bark beetles have given us a miss again. Our tree guy spotted four infected trees last year and cut them, and sliced the bark to let the rain in to kill the larvae. Apparently it worked.
I love trees too. We have a total of six trees on our small suburban lot. The attract birds and other animals.