I have taken an accounting of my neighborhood and it is official. My house
sits on the only lot without a tree on it. That may not sound like a big
deal but I have some serious tree envy. The area where we live is recently
developed. We built here because of its location near schools and our
inability to find a standing house we liked. I have tried buying trees in
the past. The first one died within one year. That was quite
disappointing when you consider it cost several hundred dollars to buy and
nearly as much to have planted. We watered it, buried spikes of some sort
of nutritional stuff, kept the dog away, but it still died. My daughters
even bought the little “Pine Tree in a Box” kits and tried growing their trees
in clay pots, but they did not make it either. We bought another and
tried again. After reading the instruction pamphlet carefully, we (I mean my
wife) watered it on a regular schedule and again put fertilizer spikes around it
in the ground. We watched it daily. The leaves stayed on through the
spring…into the summer and finally dropped in the fall. Yes!
Victory! We managed not to kill a tree! A general feeling of
contentment settled over us that winter as the snow covered the ground.
Then spring arrived. There were no buds on the tree in March but it was
still kind of early. April came and the neighbors’ trees showed signs of
life, but ours remained dormant. Maybe it was a late blooming breed?
May came and it still looked like Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree two weeks after
the Christmas Play. It was bear with no signs of life. I called the
nursery where we bought it and they suggested pruning off braches that looked
dead to allow the others to grow. With hack saw in hand I approached the
tree. All the limbs looked dead. So I cut off the most brittle one
and watched. Weeks went by and everyone else had leaves. We did
not. I cut off two more branches. After waiting again nothing
happened. I called the nursery and one of their experts came out.
After a full fifteen seconds he informed me that my tree was dead. How
could I have lost her? She was doing so well last year? Her little
leaves were blowing in the wind as her branches swayed. The nice man from
the nursery was consoling me by saying that sometimes these things just happen
and there is no explanation. So now we sit on a grassy lot without a
tree. I tell myself that it’s not a big deal. Why do I need a tree
anyway? So what if everyone else has one has one. It just makes
extra work in the fall with leaves to rake. At least no one can sue me
because they get in an accident saying they couldn’t see the oncoming car
because of my tree. In spite of these feelings, however, I look out my
window and see the leaves changing color all around me and my yard is like a
giant rolling golf course. Maybe one day we’ll try again, but we just are
so afraid of losing another one. In the meantime, people are driving by
thinking, “Why don’t they get a tree. Everyone else has one.”
sits on the only lot without a tree on it. That may not sound like a big
deal but I have some serious tree envy. The area where we live is recently
developed. We built here because of its location near schools and our
inability to find a standing house we liked. I have tried buying trees in
the past. The first one died within one year. That was quite
disappointing when you consider it cost several hundred dollars to buy and
nearly as much to have planted. We watered it, buried spikes of some sort
of nutritional stuff, kept the dog away, but it still died. My daughters
even bought the little “Pine Tree in a Box” kits and tried growing their trees
in clay pots, but they did not make it either. We bought another and
tried again. After reading the instruction pamphlet carefully, we (I mean my
wife) watered it on a regular schedule and again put fertilizer spikes around it
in the ground. We watched it daily. The leaves stayed on through the
spring…into the summer and finally dropped in the fall. Yes!
Victory! We managed not to kill a tree! A general feeling of
contentment settled over us that winter as the snow covered the ground.
Then spring arrived. There were no buds on the tree in March but it was
still kind of early. April came and the neighbors’ trees showed signs of
life, but ours remained dormant. Maybe it was a late blooming breed?
May came and it still looked like Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree two weeks after
the Christmas Play. It was bear with no signs of life. I called the
nursery where we bought it and they suggested pruning off braches that looked
dead to allow the others to grow. With hack saw in hand I approached the
tree. All the limbs looked dead. So I cut off the most brittle one
and watched. Weeks went by and everyone else had leaves. We did
not. I cut off two more branches. After waiting again nothing
happened. I called the nursery and one of their experts came out.
After a full fifteen seconds he informed me that my tree was dead. How
could I have lost her? She was doing so well last year? Her little
leaves were blowing in the wind as her branches swayed. The nice man from
the nursery was consoling me by saying that sometimes these things just happen
and there is no explanation. So now we sit on a grassy lot without a
tree. I tell myself that it’s not a big deal. Why do I need a tree
anyway? So what if everyone else has one has one. It just makes
extra work in the fall with leaves to rake. At least no one can sue me
because they get in an accident saying they couldn’t see the oncoming car
because of my tree. In spite of these feelings, however, I look out my
window and see the leaves changing color all around me and my yard is like a
giant rolling golf course. Maybe one day we’ll try again, but we just are
so afraid of losing another one. In the meantime, people are driving by
thinking, “Why don’t they get a tree. Everyone else has one.”
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