What's More Optimstic Than Planting a Tree?

Not one darned thing. Here in Texas, where shade is more important than most other places, planting a tree is also an act of kindness to your fellow men and women.

But you should first know that here in what's called the Hill Country it's not like the John Wayne movie version of Texas. There's far more green than brown, at least 'til mid-summer. There are 40-100 foot trees all over the place. The 100' trees have their toes in the streams and rivers, and the 40' ones have roots that search deeply in the limestone and caliche for moisture.

My little town had the wisdom to turn an old railroad right-of-way into a bike path, once the tracks had been ripped up. It cuts diagonally across town and is only a mile and a quarter long. But if you're counting, that's 2 & 1/2 miles to and fro if you're looking to get a little exercise. Along the way every quarter to half mile benches have been put on both the southwest and northeast sides.

There are trees here and there, but mostly it's bathed in sunlight. As I reported here last January, the local Native Plant Society--yes, they have them in Texas--sponsored a planting of 30 trees and shrubs at the end of the bike path. I can report now that all but one survived the planting. That's a very good record.

The county's Democratic Club bought a 5' tall Burr Oak--a fine specimen in fact. And last Saturday myself and two women members showed up with shovels and mulch in hand. We found a good spot to plant the tree, where a couple of years hence it will shade a bench, and began digging. We found a few spoonfuls of soil along with the boulders we excavated, and it took about 45 minutes of hard digging to get deep enough. But finally we did. We posed for pictures with our tree, then went on home.

Planting a tree, to me, is one of the most optimistic of endeavors. It says "I believe in the future." Little trees are all about possibilities. You don't know what they'll be when they get older, but barring the worst, they'll be big, they'll be green, and they'll cast shade. And for a shady character like me, it doesn't get much better than that.