The American Grove

  • Post published:09/29/2011
  • Post comments:3 Comments
My woodland in the dawn sun

Our house is surrounded by fields, and the fields are surrounded by woodlands.  Trees are an important part of the New England Landscape and I just learned that Massachusetts is about to join Connecticut, Vermont, Maine and 34 other states in an online organization called The American Grove. Their website is full of useful information about planting trees, even coming at how to choose a tree in an unusual way.

We have planted trees for our each of our grandchildren. The Grove makes suggestions for climate appropriate trees on various occasions. I wanted to see how this worked and asked what they would suggest, in my climate, to celebrate a friendship. White fir!  Abies concolor is a beautiful tree and according to The Grove a group of evergreens symbolize friendship that endures over the ages.

I just finished reading Vanessa Dieffenbaugh’s beautiful book The Language of Flowers, so I have been thinking a lot about this Victorian technique of communicating through flowers.  The symbolism of the white fir is friendship, resilience and longevity. I think we all know that a key element of a long-lived friendship is resilience, so I liked this idea very much.

People often think about planting trees in their gardens in the spring, and Arbor Day is always there to give gardeners a little nudge and encouragement. However, This is a perfect time of year to plant trees. You might get a bargain at a nursery, and the sun is not so strong, temperatures are cooler and there are usually soft autumnal rains to help a young tree settle in.  If the rains do not arrive, of course, it is vital to keep a new planted tree (or any other plant) well watered until the ground freezes. Then a layer of mulch will help protect the frozen soil and tree roots.

The Grove gives clear and full instructions for planting a tree.

The Grove is created and funded by the Georgia Urban Forest Council (GUFC), the Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC) and the USDA Forest Service and was beta tested in the Southeast in 2009 and 2010 before its national launch in March 2011. The community is now expanding to all 50 states along with three U.S. territories. I am glad that Massachusetts is joining. I’ll be able to see what people are doing and thinking about because the site already had a good blog and fascinating videos.  What would you like to say or demonstrate?  It’s up to you.

 

This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Lisa at Greenbow

    WOW, your woodland is stunning in the morning sun. There is nothing like this around here yet, maybe never. A wonderful idea to plant a tree for a friend.

  2. Mary Schier

    Very pretty! I’m surprised you are so far ahead of us in terms of color. We still have lots of green and aren’t supposed to peak for another week or 10 days. Have you had a lot of frost? Gorgeous photo!

  3. commonweeder

    Lisa – Lots of reasons to plant trees.
    Mary – I guess I cheated a little. The photo is from last year, a week later. There is also a trick of the light and the way it hits that line of trees at dawn, that always makes them more colorful. No serious frost yet.

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