Shade Trees

Today's post is a guest post from Fast Growing Trees Nursery.

At some point in life, everyone looks for a quiet reprieve.  Shade trees provide great spots for a good book, a good cry, a good kiss, a good nap, a good talk and a good look at life.  Somewhere to think and somewhere to remember.  That shade tree can be part of your childhood or part of your present or a look into your future.

There was this big weeping willow down the driveway at our summer cabin.  You could climb up inside of it and Mom could only find you if she heard you giggle.  We’d get all cozy up in the heavy branches and think that all those thousands of hanging limbs were green curtains in our “house”.  Our very own special, quiet, cool place.  We’d run out from under there, our arms spread wide, the thin branches gently flowing off of our arms.  Then we’d run around the outside of the tree, our hands grazing the limbs like a fabric.  That tree was the best ground level tree house we ever had!  It’s the past. 

For so many modern folks, it’s what produces a quick result that is the best reward.  Fast. Quick. Big. Now.  Today.  They want the feel of a tree that has been around for years, but instant gratification is the name of the game.  There are lots of shade trees that grow fast.  But what about flowering trees that also offer shade?  The fastest of the fast is the Royal Empress Tree.  That’s a tree that I’ll be parking a blanket under, to read that book, within 3 years.  It is the present, the now, the big wow.  The one that my neighbors stop by and ask “What’s that?”  “Is that Jack’s Beanstalk?” 

Looking into the future, I just see more and more trees.  Like in old neighborhoods with large established layers of texture and shade and colors and dappled sunlight.  Not one tree in my world, but as many as can be planted, knowing that in the future, when my grandkids come to visit, they will have a world of green peaceful places to hide and read, to hide and dream, and to hide and giggle.