Much Planting To Do

My wife and I planted 37 Blue Spruce seedlings today, each in its own pot. This was quite an endeavor for me. I have whatever is the opposite of a green thumb. Generally speaking, whatever I touch, plant-wise, dies.

The seedlings were distributed as wedding favors this weekend. This is an interesting custom, with the bride and groom giving gifts to the wedding guests. Seedlings have an extra bit of symbolism – a wedding is the creation of a new family; a seedling is the beginning of a new tree. The seedlings, as well as the idea of using them as wedding favors, came from the Green World Project.

Why do I have 37 of these?

Most of the guests took their favors with them as they left the reception. We were among the last to leave and noticed a whole pile of unclaimed seedlings. The bride’s rule was: “Take as many as you want, as long as you plant whatever you take.”

I am an out-of-sight out-of-mind environmentalist. I do not overly fret over things I do not see or cannot directly control. But I do worry about that which I can see or can control. And I could not bear to leave 37 seedlings at the reception, to be disposed with the leftovers.

So we took them home. All 37 of them.

I bought two large bags of special tree-soil from the local nursery. Something about buying dirt sort of bothered me, but I wanted to give these seedlings a jump-start at life.

We scrounged the neighborhood for pots and found professional landscapers at a nearby house. They were happy to give us their empty pots. One less thing for them to carry back to the shop, I guess.

I also bought a package of fertilizer sticks. Each pot received a stick of “miracle” fertilizer – guaranteed to make anything grow. The fertilizer sticks are about the same size as the seedlings, so I may have overdone it. If these trees do not die, they may actually become obese.

Our backyard is far too shady for all these fledgling trees, so I put all of the pots in our front yard. These trees could get up to 90 feet tall and spread 20 to 30 feet. The largest blue spruce is in Gunnison National Forest in Colorado. It is 126 feet tall and five feet in diameter.

I don’t know how fast they will grow, but I still have time to decide where to put them, permanently.

I don’t have a great desire to transplant all 37. I’m merely keeping them until someone claims them and promises to give them a good home. My house is sort of like the Humane Society for blue spruces. I’ll give each one a good home until someone comes forward willing to adopt.

In the meantime, they will remain in my front yard. If you happen to drive by a house with 37 Colorado Blue Spruce potted seedlings in the yard, that’s my house. Stop by and say “Hi”.

Colorado Blue Spruce Update, June 16, 2005

Last month I wrote about the Blue Spruce seedlings which are temporarily in my front yard. We’ve placed several of these in good homes. We will be sure to visit each of them as they grow to maturity.

Most of the 30 still in my front yard are doing OK. I haven’t measured them, but they appear to have grown an inch or two. They are also filling out and generally looking healthier. We’ve had a fair amount of rain here, and I’ve given them healthy doses of water on dry days.

A few of them may not make it. These trees are supposed to be bluish green, I think. I’m a tad worried about the few which are ore brownish in color.

I received a nice email from Green World Project. The writer liked the article and appreciated the link to the project. It’s nice to be appreciated.