Tree Envy

So I live in a nice neighborhood.  All the houses here are new.  In Texas, that means that, included in the price of the house,  the builders put in all the grass, automatic sprinklers, and nice (but minimal) landscaping in the front yard.  I don’t think that’s true in other parts of the country. There’s my tree on the left.  I think it’s a crepe myrtle.  If so, I hope it’s a pink one.

The backyard is grassy, but that’s it.  Oh, we did put in our veggie garden.  But what’s missing is some nice trees.  Wouldn’t you know it, both my neighbors have gone to the trouble of having trees installed.

I don’t mean that they went to Home Depot and paid $30.00 for a dwarf fruit tree, dug a hole, and plopped that baby in.  Nope.  They went to one of those expensive full-service tree nurseries, bought full-grown trees, had lots of people and bulldozers come out and install them.  I like their style. And the trees are beautiful.

One lady put in three huge trees in the backyard and another three on the side.  My other neighbor put in two in his front yard and three in the back (that’s the neighbor with the outdoor speakers; but, no, all those trees don’t muffle the volume of his beloved Journey).

I know that this is expensive because one day I was driving by one of those tree nurseries.  There was a big sign out front that said “Tree installed.  Complete.  $397.00″.  Yowza.  I’m pretty sure my neighbors didn’t go for the tree included in that deal either.  I’m sure they upgraded, because as I mentioned before: they have style.

But trees can be good friends to a homeowner.  Planted wisely, they can help keep energy costs down. I have a book called “99 Ways to A Simple Lifestyle” that tells me “deciduous trees on the eastern and southern exposures will provide shade in the summer and allow the house to warm in the winter….Conifers along the northern side give shade in summer and act as a wind break in winter.”  So there. Oh, and you know, I notice my one neighbor planted in exactly this way, while the Journey-lover planted willy nilly.  Interesting.

So trees have been on my mind a lot lately.  And as often happens sometimes people really close to you are on the same mental wavelength.  Which is delightfully spooky.

1500 miles across time and space my sister’s California wavelengths were in alignment with my Texas wavelengths.  As a result, she sent me this email yesterday:

Hi Gals,
Here is a site for free plants and trees. You only pay the shipping.
Sometimes they put you on a waitlist if the plant/tree you want isn’t
currently available, but they do send it as soon as it comes into stock.
I ordered a cherry blossom tree/sapling a year ago and it’s growing very
nicely in our front planter.  :) they sent me two saplings in the mail
and one survived, but the other didn’t because I neglected it and no one
wanted it.

http://freetreesandplants.com/

Yay! So I think I can even beat even  that rock-bottom Home Depot price. And not to mention, this is a great way to help people, trees, and the earth.  I love that.

So if you need a tree, this might be a good way to go.  No bulldozers, but you’ll definitely be entitled to the warm fuzzies.