Trees: The Gift of Love - Page 3
© Georgene Bramlage
Other trees in the yard, of significance to us, are a kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa) planted by our son in 1987 to mark our 20th wedding anniversary, a Carolina silverbell (Halesia tetraptera) planted in 1992 to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, a gingko (Ginkgo biloba) to observe the Millennium, and a seven-son-flower tree (Heptacodium miconioides) planted this summer to commemorate the birth of our first grandchild, a boy.
The place of honor in the yard, however, goes to my dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) planted by my son and husband in 1991 to commemorate one of my more significant birthdays. They carefully sited the dawn redwood, tucked into a slight slope on our back hillside reminiscent of its ancestral growing conditions, so I could see it from my office window. This deciduous coniferous tree, about fifteen feet when they planted it, is a seedling offspring from a dawn redwood on the Smith College campus in Northampton, MA.
The Smith tree was grown from material collected in the 1940's in an isolated valley in central China. Up to that time it was presumed extinct, but once living mature trees were discovered, seeds and seedlings were collected by an international group of botanists and distributed to arboreta such as The Arnold Arboretum and Smith College throughout the United States and Europe.
The dawn redwood is not only a beautiful tree for large New England yards but this particular one represents my link to a botanically historical event. It also symbolizes the certainty that two people important in my life know and respect my daydreams and desires enough to try to satisfy at least one of them. Their finding this tree, moving it, and properly siting and planting it for me, continue to be a beautiful gift of love.
Selecting a suitable tree for a celebration can be as simple as a visit to your local garden center. Or, if you?d like to learn more about obtaining a tree to memorialize someone or to celebrate a special occasion, here are several sites that provide information that is both thought-provoking and enlightening. They also handle the fundamentals and make certain that your requests are carried out:
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