We want to pick a tree to plant in the front yard of our new house. The lawn, which is currently baking to a nicely-browned crisp in the heat and dearth of rain, could so happily benefit from the shade of trees. However, we do not live there yet. We are still trying to sell our old house. We cannot rescue the abiding lawn; we cannot water, weed nor plant. The new house is empty and has been for six months; tall spiny weeds are the only squatters living there now. So I must wait to plant this unchosen tree and this gives me time to ruminate.
Right now, a palm tree would seem to fit in the desert-like
conditions of our persistent heat wave, but eventually the temperature will
drop below -10 C (or 14F) so this kind of tree will not do. How any creature
can live in a climate that spans over 60 degrees of temperature (or 90 degrees,
depending on your thermometer), especially one that cannot flee the elements,
say, under a tree, is beyond me. So this new resident on our property-to-be
will have to be hardy. But also
hospitable.
Well, there are evergreens, the other extreme applicant for
our climate. We have grown them in the past but they are often the opposite of
hospitable. Spiders and birds love them, but humans cannot climb them or even
trim them without pain--and suffering, if you’re like my husband and develop
hives from their acidic scratches. Anything green living underneath a
coniferous tree doesn’t have many years left; evergreens are experts at
out-shading any chance at photosynthesis. So our candidate must be hardy,
hospitable and shady, but not to the point of a gangster.
Our current house has an uneasy peace with a very tall
backyard weed called a locust tree. It
grows several feet every year in all directions, sends up treelets all over the
place—I’ve even found them in the front yard—and is host to a huge number of
tiny leaves that don’t rake up without a fight. Its cousin, the mountain ash,
is in the front yard, with similar leaves and with springtime flowers that
exude a strong “stinky fish” aroma, as identified by my unappreciative family. These
types of trees, that seem to feature “rude” as their particular identifier, will
not enter onto our list.
What about birches and aspens? They are strong contenders for gracing the
front yard. Aspens sound blissfully like a waterfall when stirred by the wind,
and birches, with their beautiful white bark, look good year-round. But these
trees can be fragile and often do not live long. I have had enough smaller plants die in my
care that it would break my heart to have to uproot an adolescent beauty of a
birch that has not made it.
I think I will be satisfied with a good old maple tree. They have great shape when mature, they shade terrifically in summer and in autumn they are unmatched in colourful display. And being Canadian, these trees hold a special place in my heart! But it’s not just up to me; I will have to win over the rest of my family to the maple family. Speaking of which, there are over six different varieties of maples: sugar, red, silver, norway, sycamore maple, Japanese maple…
2011
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