You might remember last fall I was so excited about the three trees that we planted. (read about that here) We had gotten the trees through the Alliant Energy Releaf program. It was awesome. We only paid $25 per tree. The Burr Oak didn’t look the best but the two Sugar Maples looked awesome.
Fast forward to present day…the Burr Oak looks awesome and the two Sugar Maples…not awesome. We can’t figure out what happened. They both had buds…granted they were late but buds. The one got leaves and died..the other the leaves have slowly been dying. There are all sorts of branches that don’t have leaves either.
We were do disappointed. All spring we watched those two trees hoping they would make it. We finally gave up.
Ever since we bought the house I had wanted a Willow tree. Hubby said they aren’t appropriate for town. I said as a grandma I’d love to have one so the kids can play under the huge canopy of shade…He said no. Then the cheap trees from Alliant were available and they didn’t have Willows so I dropped it. We got our two Sugar Maples and one Burr Oak. I was content with them.
The two trees died and we went to replace them. Hubby (yes Hubby) suggested we get a Willow. WHAT?? I had given up on the Willow fight. I asked what had changed his mind. He told me to follow him to the alley and he pointed out a neighborhood tree….
He said that Willow is in town and he thought is looked good.
Well GLORY BE! He came over to my side of thinking.
We ended up at the nursery and had to pick out trees…. Looking at prices I wasn’t sure what we’d get. We ended up with…
a Celebration Maple….and a Willow.
That’s my Willow in the foreground and Hubby is by the Maple.
Of course while planting them the wheel barrow ended up with a flat tire.
We are both happy with the Willow.
My son Buck called home and I told him we planted a Willow…His reply, “Man Dad is getting soft”. Yep, he kinda is and I love it!
I hope this ends the tree saga and that these two take off.
So fun! I love willows. I was lucky enough to be able to spend time with my great aunt & uncle when I was smaller. They had a VERY LARGE willow in there back yard and had put a porch swing on it. They would sit out there on the hot afternoons and swing while us kids played in the shade of the tree. I loved it. Enjoy!!
Happy that you got the willow you wanted. Trees make such a wonderful addition to a home. Hope you have good luck with these two new ones!
I love willows, too, but they love water and with a septic field, I couldn’t have one. Now that we are on a sewer system, I should check into it again! Your place is shaping up nicely. Can’t wait to see the full reveal of your sewing room.
Loved reading this post! Love your new trees, especially the willow!
We had a willow tree growing up and it was a great place to play. Dad actually put a hammock under it, too it was so big. That became my favorite place to take a book and read. Enjoy your trees.
The memories of my Gramp’s backyard “weeping” Willow Tree popped immediately in my mind upon reading the 1st lines of this post. Such great memories of the tire swing and using the entire under side as our club house complete with my sweeping the dirt floor lol. My cousins and I spent many hours under it and up in it as well. There were a couple of times when we got a switching with one of those terrible switches that wouldn’t just sting once but doubled by the time it wrapped around us for the final snap of the end of the twig. But those couple of times were all it took for us to learn. LOL I sure wish I could have a Willow Tree now, in S. Texas.
Jeri
Know why I resent willow trees? Ours was dubbed “the switch tree” because we had to go out and cut our own corporal punishment from the willow, hence the switch tree. Mom loved it, we didn’t.
I remember the beautiful willow my Aunt and Uncle had when I was small–it just made their whole yard -I loved everything about it and how it is just a romantic tree… A beautiful willow is still my favorite tree..Our yard never seemed right for one…..maybe I was wrong and should still go for it…
Weeping Willow Trees make me a kid again! Hide and seek at dusk willows were a great place to hide. So much fun as a kid…….
I have always liked “weeping willows” too. A friend started me several with shoots off of his tree. My son kept mowing them off when he mowed the grass. Finally my friend brought me three trees, planted them in the back of my yard where they couldn’t reach any pipes and put fences around them to protect him from my son’s mowing. That was years ago and I still have one of the three and it is huge. Trees never live for us if we buy them from a nursery. Only if we dig them up somewhere in the woods and bring them home.