And Then I Stole a Tree--Scratch That, a Weed!

OK, it was a seedling. I'm still kind of sorry (but kind of not). To the city of Des Moines, I'm sorry! Sort of. 

We decided to take the kids to the park. As usual, Oliver got distracted picking up acorn caps and "planting" them. Andrew dubbed him "Johnny Acorn" (like "Johnny Appleseed," get it? Ha). 

Oliver does this kind of thing all the time. At home, he planted an acorn cap and watered it every single day. I didn't have the heart to tell him an acorn cap can't grow, so I ordered a little sapling from Ebay. It was like $3 but shipping was like $9. It took over a week to arrive and was delivered in sorry shape. All the leaves but four fell off in the mail. I soaked the roots in a bowl of water for a bit to try to keep it alive, and then I planted it. After that, I told Oliver to come outside to see his tree that grew! He helped mulch it and water it. He has been so excited and has watered it every day. It lost two more leaves right away, and the last two leaves fell off yesterday. Unless I see some new buds soon, I think we can write it off as dead :(

Anyway, back to the park! We spent part of the afternoon playing at Witmer Park yesterday. It was a gorgeous day, 75 degrees in the afternoon and a bit breezy. 

Oliver played a bit and then got busy in nature. He found bark from what I think is a London plane tree. The trees at this park are beautiful! Here he is sharing some bark with Andrew:

...and then he started planting more acorn pieces, telling me where different trees were going to grow. He just planted and planted and planted!

A whole acorn! He saved that one "for Eli" (his neighbor friend):

 When he was planting, I got a closer look at some of the weeds growing at the edge of the playground. They sure look like little oak seedlings, don't they?

With all of those oak trees around, what else could they be?

So, I pulled one out of the sand.

I brought it home, and I planted it. Who needs a $12 dead oak seedling from Ebay when you can pull one out of the sand at the park? Jackpot! 

...and that's the story of our new oak tree. On the one hand, it was growing in the sand in a playground and wasn't going to survive or mature. On the other hand, I feel a little guilty because I know it wasn't ours for the taking. Still, it looks pretty nice in the yard, doesn't it?

Here's the one we got in the mail. Not looking so good...

And here is one of our volunteer maple seedlings! Most of the weeds at our house have been maple seedlings. I just keep pulling them out by the dozens, but I decided to let this one stay. I'm hoping either it or the oak seedling I just planted will survive the winter, but we'll see!

Edit: ...and I've just been informed that it's a weed. Darn, I was so excited, too. I guess I should get outside and pull it.

Planter Gardening

Our HOA replaced our front lawn with a xeriscape. Because the climate is so dry in Colorado, it's impossible to maintain a lush lawn without daily watering. Many people have replaced their front lawns with xeriscaping, which is basically done with decorative patterns of rocks and drought-resistant shrubs and plants. Xeriscaping always looks very naked when it's first placed, but, when it grows in, it can be quite beautiful. It takes time to get used to it, but people are starting to appreciate it more because it's so much better for our state and our scarce water resources. You can see some examples of xeriscapes here.

Well, ours is so new that the plants haven't fully grown in yet, and it looks bare. I added a few planters of flowers and borrowed a bench from my mother-in-law to help fill the space. I filled my oak barrel planter with petunias and snapdragons, and then I bought an already-filled planter from the Home Depot to fill the corner by our stoop. It makes a big difference, and hopefully it will be more appealing to potential buyers! This is their first impression of our home, after all.

Here's my little garden helper:

Tree by Tree

Andrew and Aminta joined me yesterday in planting trees at Expo Park in Aurora in honor of Arbor Day and Earth Day. The goal was 90 trees by noon, but the volunteers rocked it up, and we finished with 90 trees by 10am. I learned that two hours of manual labor is more than enough. We dug holes, cracked through clay, rolled trees into their holes, and carried big buckets of mulch to spread around the new trees. Afterwards, Andrew learned that one of his good buddies goes to Expo Park regularly to play disc golf. It's nice that we know someone who'll enjoy the fruits of our labor.

With my muscles sore but my spirit high, I went to my parents' house to go for a jog with my mom. I didn't expect to get very far, but I was determined to go to get my training started. Surprisingly, it wasn't too bad. The weater was hot (75 degrees), and the trail was full of hills, but I managed to run almost the entire thing (1.5 miles worth). One and a half miles doesn't sound like that much of an accomplishment, but, seriously, the hills on that trail have been known to kick my butt in the past. I ran the entire way, except for on the last stretch when I had to walk up the last steep hill. I felt accomplished when I finished. Very proud. I also started to hope that Disney World isn't very hilly.

After our run, my parents and I played more Wii Golf, and then I headed outside to help my mom with the pond. I was thrilled to see another shovel after the tree planting adventure, but it didn't end up being too bad. I dug for an hour and headed home.

My day off might not have been a relaxing one, but I definitely felt proud for doing so much. Further more, I'm not as sore today as I would have thought. I feel my back and triceps, but everything else seems to be working smoothly. Maybe this training won't be so bad after all.