treebucketHow many times have I wrote about planting trees? Probably too many, yet I continue to plant and continue to write about it. The weekend turned out to be relatively nice, so on Sunday I planted a little over half of the MDC seedlings I ordered this year (125 trees). For this round of planting I mainly replaced other seedlings that for one reason or another have died. It was kind of interesting locating the flags where I placed a tiny tree two years ago. Near one flag I even found the original pine stem buried under some grass in an advanced state of decay.

In addition to replacing dead trees, I also more densely populated existing groupings. The closer the trees are, the sooner their branches will begin to touch, and the faster they will grow height, rather than width. Pines (the vast majority of what I plant) require loads of sunlight, so when their needles started getting shaded by another tree, they start racing upwards to avoid being shaded to death.

I like planting the trees and imagining what they will look like in 5, 10, 20 years down the road. I also like the idea of someday stepping out my back door and smelling the pine scent in the air. I get my love of trees from my mom, however I get my specific love of Pine trees from my dad.