Once in a while you get to have a moment that reminds you why you do this stuff. This weekend I was at the property I am helping out with and saw many pleasant developments which helped to offset my disappointments. BTW, pound for pound, oaks are some of the best trees for wildlife there are.

That's a touching story! I'd love to be able to come back and find a tree years later like that.

On my parents property, there was a small oak seedling that was left alone for years. For whatever reason, it was never pulled out even though it was technically a "weed" and growing near some other, lesser tree.

Well, 10 to 15 or so years later, it is a nice-sized young tree in good health, and still rocketing upwards into the sky. It's also old enough to produce acorns of its own, so the cycle continues...

My mother has a 'volunteer' sycamore in her woods in CT. Since they are rare there, she has kept it cleared a bit to give it a chance. After 28 years, it's finally starting to look like something. We have never seen another one anywhere near it, so we don't know where it came from.

Loved your story. Several years ago a house that we lived in when we were first married was open for a garden tour. When we were there I planted several trees, including a small Spruce Pine. Over the years fences and buildings had been rearranged and I kept looking for some of my trees. It suddenly hit me that the huge tree we were sitting under was the little spruce pine, now 30 years later, You can't buy that feeling.

Thanks for sharing your stories everyone.
rdillem........you must have had the same feeling I did when you realized you were under that spruce! It's quite a feeling.

I know what all of you mean. It seems like i'm always coming across a surprise plant. i say the birds bring me presents from seeds. I had some false solaman's seals appear one year. and another year a vine started climbing up the oak tree by my porch it took me over a year to find out a name for it. I collared a forest ranger and he told me it was called a strangle vine.but it would'nt hurt my oak tree it has now climbed up the tree across the top edge of my porch and up a tv antenna. i will not let anyone touch it because it's fairly rare. I never know where a grape,muskedine, blackberry,or dewberry is going to appear if i can live with it reasonable i let it alone.I've also been surprised by rattlesnake plantain which is really an orchid. have got 3 plants spread from the first one. These have all been special moments for me.

Your post brought back some sad memories.

Several years ago we had a really nice wooded lot with one nice 10" caliper quaking aspen - which is very uncommon in this area. I drove the poor grading contractor crazy making sure it was protected during clearing of the home site. Then a few years ago we sold that place (in early winter) and I left a detailed drawing for the new owners as to where all the valuable plants were located. When I last drove by the old place the aspen was gone...some people should just be smacked!

thank god for the 'weed trees' that are missed,they are usually the only things left after years of careful 'landscaping'.

Catherinnet... I thought your story was poingnant and provacative, so if you want some oak saplings, just let me know. Each year at my lake house, the acorns are so thick you can hardly walk down the hill becuase they act like ball bearings under your feet. Oak trees soon sprout everywhere there, even in the carpeted nooks and crannies in one of our boats that stays unprotected under some very giant old white oak trees.

At my lake we have TONS of oaks and hickory trees (and a bizzilion other trees) but alas... very few common maple trees that give us the color needed to make autumns take a person's breath away.

If "jimnoak" is my user name, it's because my name is Jim and I'm an ex professional woodworker and lover of oak trees. They seem to be the strong backbone of any woods I ever travelled.

jim

I can remember when I was a kid I used to mow the lawn for my grandfather. I found this little water oak sapling one day and decided to go around it. And I did that every time from that point on. We'll today I'm 27 and that tree has grown to be about 30ft tall and is beautiful. I do know now though that water oaks are short lived, so I have been planting some white oak acorns to take their place when they finally return to the earth.

One of my favorite things to do at the house I just moved from was to relax in the hammock underneath my two curly willows. I just felt so at peace as I swayed back and forth under the fluttering leaves. I miss their contorted branches and curly leaves. Fortunately, I happen to still have connections with the current owner, so I plan to take some green branches and try to sprout them. I have heard that it's easy to propagate willows that way. Hopefully I have heard correctly!