We Plant a Tree


Two evenings ago we planted a tree, a Cedrus deodara 'Aurea', or golden Deodar cedar, also apparently known as a "Golden Himalayan Cedar". That's a picture of it at right that I took today. I don't intend to start doing Friday cedar blogging, but we might see another picture someday as it grows.

This tree comes loaded with symbolism. It's my birthday tree, for one thing. Birthdays come and go and I almost never have any idea how I'd like to celebrate when asked the inevitable questions. This year I had ideas, and I shared them with Isaac. I thought it would be nice to go to our local steak house with some friends (his choice). We did and I had a splendid T-bone steak, an occasional special treat.

I also thought of two things I'd like as presents. One was an air compressor (it sounds like there should be a story, but there's not much of one–it would be convenient and useful), the other was a tree.

It seemed to me we needed to be planting another tree in the yard before any more time passed. I had some ideas, but I was most definite about the cedar. So, I suggested that if any of our friends asked what I might like for my birthday that he tell them perhaps they'd like to join in and get a Cedrus deodara 'aurea'. And they did! it was such a nice surprise. I suspect they were shocked into compliance by the unusual specificity of my suggestion.

For several years I thought I'd like to have a specimen. There are a few examples not far from where we live. Every time I'd see them I thought they were remarkably beautiful, graceful trees as they matured. Identifying them wasn't so easy, but we finally decided that they must be examples of Cedrus deodara 'aurea', largely because there wasn't much else they could be. Plans formed in my head.

For those who have been here at Björnslottet–or for those who will visit sometime and want to locate the tree–we planted it on the East side of the house, just in front of the fence. It's rather near the house because I've seen some cedars planted close to buildings and they always have seemed to behave themselves nicely and that side of the house is a large blank wall covered with grey vinyl, so it could use a large, graceful, well-behaved feature. Time will tell, I suppose, whether this was a wise decision, but there you go.

Our friends Rich and Betty, who had procured the tree, brought it in their truck on Wednesday night. "It's a little bigger than you might expect," Rich had said. My goodness, but this was a pretty good size specimen already; the fence in the photograph is six- to seven-feet tall. It was too muddy (we'd had over a week of rain) to back his truck up the small hill to the appointed spot, so he backed it into the hill and we all lifted and swung a few feet at a time, marching it up the hill and over to its spot. Digging and planting was a piece of cake from that point.

To add some more symbolism, I thought that we could call this one our "friends' tree", in gratitude to the friends who arranged so thoughtfully for it to get into its current location with such relative ease. It's also appointed as the tree we planted in Dad's memory, since he died just last December.

I'm very happy to have it in place. It provides just a little more symbolism, giving me some feeling that I'm moving forward again with my life.

Posted on May 16, 2008 at 17.28 by jns · Permalink
In: All, Personal Notebook

2 Responses

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  1. Written by S.W. Anderson
    on Friday, 16 May 2008 at 19.18
    Permalink

    Happy birthday, Jeff. The tree planting is a fine way to mark the event. So is a great dinner.

    I hope the California decision ends up standing there and serving as a precedent across the country. I expect the fact that process got under way coincident with your birthday makes it an especially auspicious occasion. (I think/hope that's what you meant by "personally" in your comment on my post.)

  2. Written by rightsaidfred
    on Saturday, 17 May 2008 at 00.09
    Permalink

    I recently watched a DIY (Do It Yourself) show on transplanting a large tree. Interesting.

    I bought my Dad a compact air compressor about a year ago. It has been very useful.

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