Searching for 1971 Champions

May 8, 2019 | Arbor Day Plot

In 1971, in commemoration of Royal Oak celebrating its Golden Jubilee–the 50th anniversary of its incorporation as a city–historian Owens Perkins published Royal Oak, Michigan: The Early Years (Royal Oak Historical Society, 1974). In his preface to the...

Happy Arbor Day 2019 …

Apr 30, 2019 | Arbor Day Plot

. . . Belatedly! Sometimes a delay happens for very good reasons. Of course, I may just be trying to reassure the OCD facet of my personality, the part who has a very hard time missing a deadline–even a self-determined tree-planting deadline. My “New Plan...

When the “Day Before” Isn’t

Apr 26, 2019 | Arbor Day Plot

I typed the heading above this afternoon. But, it’s been 10 days since I wrote most of what follows, except for the photo credits and the update at the end. . . . So, I’ve gone from 13 trees to 3 others, from an almost-decision of Catalpa and Ginkgo to a...

A New “Plan A”

Apr 9, 2019 | Arbor Day Plot

Determined to make my tree selection as planned by Friday, April 12th, I winnowed the 13 on my spreadsheet below down to the two that, in the end, most emotionally appealed to me: a Catalpa and a Ginkgo. My tree choices The Catalpa would adorn my parklawn/easement,...

A Fool for April . . .

Apr 2, 2019 | Arbor Day Plot

. . . I am! Credit or Debit, Red Maple or Silver Maple? As the week of tax spreadsheets wore on, the flower buds on the maple twig I’d picked up on my morning walk with Jeanne S. wilted while waiting to be identified. I had planned for it to be my first subject...

Not just a 7th species . . . 7 more!

Mar 19, 2019 | Arbor Day Plot

Last week, I asked for one more tree–a 7th suggestion–to add to my list of 6 species and received 7 more suggestions, more than doubling the list. If you want to cut to the chase and see the full list of the 13 suggested tree species, check out The List....