Trees

Recently, I went to my niece's new house and was surprised that there were no trees in the yard. How could a house be 50 years old and not have a tree? I told her that the first thing she should do is "plant trees".

I am kind of a tree nut. I've lived in my house for 16 years and I have planted about 30 trees. One of my favorite trees is the Birch tree. I love their white, paper-like bark. Hundreds of years ago, the paper-like bark was used in India to write manuscripts on.

The first birch I purchased was the one pictured here. I love it in the winter where its white bark is a bright spot in the bleakness of the garden. With an evergreen background, the peeling bark is really showy. The Himalayan birch is the most widely grown of the birch species in the Pacific Northwest

Or course I love walking in the local forests and seeing groves of them surrounded by the native vine maples.

My best gardening advice to anyone: plant trees.