Memorial Trees

A bunch of friends went together to buy us a gift certificate to a local nursery so that we could choose a tree to plant in memory of my dad. They have real trees there, and not the little sticks that we usually buy when we want a tree.

Our yard already contained most of the trees in the right price range, so we were musing on the possibility of a perennial garden, or getting a second tree of something we already have. But something stuck in my mind when the lady was helping me look. "Is there any plant that your father especially liked?" All I could think of was sweet corn! Dad never struck me as the kind of guy who would have a favorite flower or a favorite kind of tree, but I do remember the day he told me he came back to Illinois after his time in the army, and how beautiful the cornfields looked! As Gary and I mulled over our choices, I did remember that Dad wanted an apple in his lunchbox every day. And we'd been thinking about buying some of those little sticks that would one day grow into apple trees. So we decided on an apple tree.

The gals who purchased the gift certificate made it easy on me: there was enough money to have the tree delivered and planted. But as I was arranging the delivery, I realized that the delivery was more expensive than the tree itself. So ... [spur of the moment decision] ... we bought two apple trees instead! They were small enough that we could squeeze them into the van. Paul and Andrew dug the holes for me this morning. Look at how mature these trees are: they are growing apples already. I never had a fruit tree before that would bear fruit in the first three years. This is so cool!