I romanticize about gardening and landscaping sometimes, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. I often fantasize about what impact I can leave on this world, what I can build that will exist after I am gone.
Trees live for hundreds or thousands of years, and since they reseed, your actions in planting a tree, even if the tree doesn’t live that long, can affect the environment for, well, forever so long as man doesn’t get in the way.
There is a small public wetlands/park area by my house, it is public land and is completely enclosed on all sides by development. It is probably about 1 square mile and is trisected by walking paths. I’ve planted wild flowers back there before, and I know other locals have too, even a few trees. Some guy has put up bird houses. The people who live by it tend to take care of it.
It is the perfect place for bald cypresses, none of which grow near it, and which are beautiful trees that get quite large, and can live a long time. I know they can live in this climate, there is one in town someone has in their yard that is probably approaching 70 feet. I bought some seeds on eBay that I will start them into the Spring after I have given them the necessary cold treatment. Then, one they’re growing, next summer or fall, I will transplant them back into that area and pray the couple deer don’t eat them.
I won’t live in this area forever, I’ll probably move in 5 years, so I won’t get to enjoy the trees once they grow (if they grow) but someone will, and the animals will. In a hundred years, I will be gone, but those trees could still be there, and people may wonder how bald cypresses ended up growing there East Lansing Michigan. Well world, it was me, I did it.
My parents live a few hours north of me in a rural area and live more or less in the middle of the woods. There are a lot of deer, a lot of deer, rabbits, turkeys, opossums, raccoons, all the woodland animals. But not a lot of squirrels. There are also no oak trees in their forest. I have no idea why, but there isn’t. They have a lot of birch, of poplar, of hemlock, fir, and spruce, but no oaks. Meanwhile, down here in the suburbs where oaks have been prolifically planted, we have squirrels all over the place. I have always thought it was odd that more squirrels should live in the suburbs (where they get routinely flattened) than in the forest.
So I collected a bunch of acorns and sent them up for my brother who still lives at home to plant. Trees grown from seed always grow faster, especially initially, than those grafted. Additionally, with oaks, when grown from an acorn they have a better chance of growing a good taproot, thus being stronger and harder to uproot. To plant them you just pretend you’re a squirrel and dig down 2 or 3 inches and drop them in like you’re hoarding for winter (the same deal with walnut or pecan). Not all will grow, but some will, and if they mature they will be the first oaks in the forest, perhaps eventually spreading and colonizing more areas. The trees will provide habitat, and the acorns food for many forest animals.
The squirrel population will explode.
It will be many years before that happens, the house may still be in my family, though, and even if it isn’t, the oaks will be providing wildlife habitat, I will have changed the local ecosystem like Johnny Appleseed, the effects of which could be felt for hundreds or thousands of years.
I’m sure there are some people who think “interfering” in nature is wrong, but I’m not one of them, if I want to plant a tree I’ll do it, it isn’t as if I’m planting something invasive. They may not naturally grow in the area, but they wouldn’t be wholly out of place. It is one way I can change the future, and I think that is pretty cool.
There is a small public wetlands/park area by my house, it is public land and is completely enclosed on all sides by development. It is probably about 1 square mile and is trisected by walking paths. I’ve planted wild flowers back there before, and I know other locals have too, even a few trees. Some guy has put up bird houses. The people who live by it tend to take care of it.
It is the perfect place for bald cypresses, none of which grow near it, and which are beautiful trees that get quite large, and can live a long time. I know they can live in this climate, there is one in town someone has in their yard that is probably approaching 70 feet. I bought some seeds on eBay that I will start them into the Spring after I have given them the necessary cold treatment. Then, one they’re growing, next summer or fall, I will transplant them back into that area and pray the couple deer don’t eat them.
I won’t live in this area forever, I’ll probably move in 5 years, so I won’t get to enjoy the trees once they grow (if they grow) but someone will, and the animals will. In a hundred years, I will be gone, but those trees could still be there, and people may wonder how bald cypresses ended up growing there East Lansing Michigan. Well world, it was me, I did it.
My parents live a few hours north of me in a rural area and live more or less in the middle of the woods. There are a lot of deer, a lot of deer, rabbits, turkeys, opossums, raccoons, all the woodland animals. But not a lot of squirrels. There are also no oak trees in their forest. I have no idea why, but there isn’t. They have a lot of birch, of poplar, of hemlock, fir, and spruce, but no oaks. Meanwhile, down here in the suburbs where oaks have been prolifically planted, we have squirrels all over the place. I have always thought it was odd that more squirrels should live in the suburbs (where they get routinely flattened) than in the forest.
So I collected a bunch of acorns and sent them up for my brother who still lives at home to plant. Trees grown from seed always grow faster, especially initially, than those grafted. Additionally, with oaks, when grown from an acorn they have a better chance of growing a good taproot, thus being stronger and harder to uproot. To plant them you just pretend you’re a squirrel and dig down 2 or 3 inches and drop them in like you’re hoarding for winter (the same deal with walnut or pecan). Not all will grow, but some will, and if they mature they will be the first oaks in the forest, perhaps eventually spreading and colonizing more areas. The trees will provide habitat, and the acorns food for many forest animals.
The squirrel population will explode.
It will be many years before that happens, the house may still be in my family, though, and even if it isn’t, the oaks will be providing wildlife habitat, I will have changed the local ecosystem like Johnny Appleseed, the effects of which could be felt for hundreds or thousands of years.
I’m sure there are some people who think “interfering” in nature is wrong, but I’m not one of them, if I want to plant a tree I’ll do it, it isn’t as if I’m planting something invasive. They may not naturally grow in the area, but they wouldn’t be wholly out of place. It is one way I can change the future, and I think that is pretty cool.
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