Will It Grow Arbor Day Project?

Christmas has come and gone – and now I have nothing better to do than flip through the mail. Okay, perhaps life isn't that boring, but it's boring enough that when I came across a survey from The Arbor Day Foundation, I actually opened it.

According to the survey, if I answered 16 questions for them, I would receive 10 free trees, 2 free flowering shrubs, a copy of The Tree Book, a subscription to the Arbor Day newsletter, and a chance to win a free year of their rain-forest-saving coffee. (Free coffee? Whoo-hoo!)

 

As I said, I was bored, so I decided to check out what other people had to say about the much heralded free trees. I mean I wasn't expecting 4-gallon pots to ship to my home, but I was curious as to whether they'd be twigs, or something more promising.

After reading over several reviews at Dave's Garden, and GardenWeb, I had a better idea of what to expect. Yes, I would be shipped free trees, but they may not arrive at the appropriate planting time for my area, and they would look like twigs, that may or may not survive.

 

Now that I knew what I was in for, I decided to play ball. My mother raised me to be a "tree planter*" – so, I figured why not see what happens? In the very least, it would give us something to do. So, we're calling this the "Will It Grow Arbor Day Project?"

 

If the trees ship now, as many people forewarned, I shall simply soak their roots and pot them up. My husband might kill me when he's notices that I'll have converted our dining room into a twig nursery, but the kids will love it!

Like I said, I'm not expecting much, but if any of the trees do survive, we'll be thrilled. Besides, I'm making a donation to the organization because I believe in planting trees – so anything beyond that, well that's just icing on the cake.

 

If all goes according to plan, we'll receive:

* 2 American Redbuds (decked in clusters of rosy pink April flowers);

* 2 White Flowering Dogwoods (landscape standouts known for colorful beauty and for attracting songbirds);

* 2 Flowering Crabapples (valued for their vibrant springtime blossoms);

* 2 Washington Hawthorns (with delicate white flowers and decorative red fruit);

* 2 Goldenraintrees (adorned in early summer with bright yellow flowers, followed by hanging, papery, lantern-shaped seed pods);

* 2 Crapemyrtles (flowering shrubs)

 

 

*Tree Planter: My Mom and Dad used to plant a tree for each of us kids at every home they owned. My mom always thought it was important to put our family roots in the ground. I've since carried on her tradition. So far, we've only planted an Apple tree for each of the kids, but it's a good start.

I'll keep you posted on how our trees grow,

 

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