Tree Huggers

It's no secret to anyone we know that we love trees!

Any planting of trees around here usually starts with Chris and his amazing ability to research and design the best landscaping for any space you put in front of him. He knew that we wanted Green Giant Arborvitaes (Thujas) for the South screen last Spring, around the time he was planting the other natural fence on the North side of our yard. They are deer, disease and bug resistant...not to mention beautiful. They are also pretty pricey, since they offer all of these benefits.

Luckily, we had time to think about it and try to find some good deals. The price point was even more of an issue since we knew we needed 22 of the same type of tree. He wanted to put them in during the cooler days of September. (..although it wasn't very cool with all the highs in the 90s going on and we were hoping for some rain too so the ground wouldn't be so hard to dig the holes...)

Long story short, we called our favorite Grower's Outlet repeatedly expecting a shipment of 7 gal. trees on and off for over 2 months. They never came in.

It was the last day of September and we were starting to get stressed about what we were going to do. The very next day, the Manager at Grower's Outlet called and offered us the very trees we needed, but in 15 gal size, FOR THE 7 GAL PRICE! You have to dig HUGE holes for these, but we jumped at the offer. Taller trees, more privacy, right away!

And so it began, a 2nd job for Chris in the evenings. He predug 5 holes and was able to get 5 trees in the ground that first day. And averaged about 3 more every day after that. He would get home from work, change, have a snack and work until the sun went down. I am still amazed that his body didn't quit on him. SUCH HARD WORK! (and lots of muddy socks, pants and shirts)

This was Day 2...I decided I'd better get an "in-progress" picture. ;)

After they were planted, a little trough was dug around the root-ball and some really yummy cedar mulch was put down to encourage the roots to shoot out toward the native soil. I helped do this one night, unfortunately I was battling some sort of bug during the bulk of the planting and couldn't help out much. (I did manage to keep an eye on the kids and make dinner though...)

The weather was in the low 70's in the evenings most night and the kids had a blast swinging from the pile of mulch bags on our natural vine swing. It's like a regular Tarzan party back there!


Just about done. I think there were 2 trees to go on the end of the line (far right). Here is the view between the homes, from the back of our house.



And here is the view from the front with ALL 22 of them in. Chris will put in a Deodar Cedar near the front of those trees in the Spring. BONUS: Now our playground is no longer visible from the street!

We really love and appreciate the beauty that trees and shrubs bring to our yard. It feels very personalized now! Chris has put in 36 trees and 12 shrubs in the last 10 months! We love our King Tree Hugger!