I love trees! The willow tree in this photo doesn’t have a lot of leaves yet, but it already looks special with those trailing little branches and bright green leaves. And the evergreen trees are showing how green they are — all year round!
Trees are amazing. Not only do they look wonderful but they fulfill so many different functions in our lives.
Trees are fun
When I was young, elementary school age, I remember we had a big tree at the top of the hill in our back yard. My father put a swing on it, and it was such fun to swing out across the path and steps leading up to it — it seemed almost like flying!
That tree wasn’t any good for climbing, but whenever we went to the park or for a walk in the forest I would immediately run to a likely tree and start scrambling up it. Sometimes I could get quite high before getting stuck!
When we moved to a new house, there was a big tree that one of our cats loved to climb. She climbed all the way to a bird’s nest one time — fun for her, not so much for the birds.
Trees provide food
At the house where I lived when I was in high school we had a big plum tree in the front yard. It had loads of really tasty Victoria plums every year. We had to be quick to pick them before other kids in the neighborhood took them, or they fell down, squish, and got eaten by insects.
In the back yard we had a greengage tree — a different kind of plum, but very tasty! We also had a couple of pear trees, nice fruit when they ripened properly, and some not so happy apple trees. I don’t remember eating any apples from those trees!
It was a good experience to have fruit trees when I was growing up. It taught me that fruits don’t just come from the supermarket but grow on trees. We don’t have any fruit trees in our yard now, but there are apple orchards close by so we took our daughter to a pick-your-own apple orchard when she was still very young. And she was able, with the help of her dad, to reach up and pick her own apple off the tree. Now she knows where apples, and other fruits, come from!
Trees live a long time
When I was in college, I lived in a duplex with a deck on the roof of the apartment below. I used to go out on the roof and just be peaceful. There was this big old tree very close to the house. I remember looking at it one day and realizing that it had probably been alive at the beginning of the century, the twentieth century that was. I wondered what kind of people had lived there with it, and what it had experienced in all those decades. It was a profound experience, almost a mystical feeling of timelessness that I got from the tree. I hope it’s still alive.
Trees are beautiful
We lived for a few years next to this magnolia tree. It always had huge beautiful blossoms in the spring. I really enjoyed that tree. Sadly, when I went past the house recently, I saw that it had been cut down. But, a couple of our neighbors where we live now have magnolia trees, so I can still enjoy their blossoms every year!
Cherry blossoms are of course very famous in the springtime. There is a road I go past often that has a line of cherry trees along the sidewalk. They produce so many lovely flowers each year. Now it’s fall and there are funny-looking little cherries — they don’t look appetizing to me, but I keep wondering if birds would enjoy them.
We have this catalpa tree in our yard. It has the most amazing flowers, so many each year. And the flowers grow on stalks, like miniature little trees. Sometimes they look like candles standing up and glowing brightly! And the leaves are so big, and heart-shaped. Quite an amazing tree.
In the fall, trees have a different kind of beauty when their leaves turn gold, orange, and red. We have many maples and most years they are very colorful. Unfortunately, there was a lot of rain and wind at the wrong time this year, so the trees haven’t done so well. But I got this photo of one of our trees, with a gorgeous blue sky above the leaves.
This smaller tree has already lost many of its leaves. But there is a lovely carpet of those fallen leaves around it — a different kind of beauty.
Trees are good
Trees are good. Being hopeless in the bright sun, I really appreciate the shade from a tree. We have our picnic table set up under a nice shady maple tree in our back yard. It makes it cool enough for me to sit there and read a book with my cup of tea.
I remember one time when my car broke down and I had to wait for the tow truck. It was very hot and since the car wouldn’t start I couldn’t run the A/C. But I couldn’t go far or the tow truck might not find me and just leave again. I saw a little tree not far from my car so I went and sat down under it. I must have looked pretty silly, but that little tree provided enough shade for me to survive the wait. Thank you, good little tree!
Trees take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen. That’s really good! They take the carbon out of the CO2 and use it to grow big and tall. How wonderful! And even better, they release oxygen for us to breathe. We should plant more trees to keep our planet healthy.
There used to be more forests. Then we started cutting down so many trees, making paper bags and the like. There’s nothing wrong with using the wood from trees, it’s good stuff. The real problem is when people don’t replace them. There is a Christmas tree farm a couple of miles from where we live. Whenever we drive past I can see the rows of trees, each row having trees of a different size, from the tiny newly planted ones to the tall ones that will be cut and sold for Christmas trees this year. It works really well!
Trees bring joy
Yes, trees bring joy, especially at Christmas! In my family we have always had a real Christmas tree. I have never actually cut one down, but there is always a place to buy trees that have been cut down already. And they just smell so good!
Our pets seem to enjoy the real tree too. We used to have a yellow parakeet that loved to fly around and take up a position in our Christmas tree. He was smart and could always find his way back to the cage when he got hungry.
Now we have a cat (and the parakeets stay in their cage!) who loves to sleep under the Christmas tree every year. He gets very excited when the tree arrives, and finds his spot underneath as soon as it is installed. Our daughter got him one of those heated cat beds and we put it under the tree for him. That’s where we find him for the duration of the Christmas season!
A lot of our joy comes from decorating the tree. We have a rather random collection of ornaments, and colored lights that get brought out every year. And some years a new one is added. We also have had a tradition of putting chocolate ornaments on the tree — of course when it comes time to take down the tree and put the ornaments away there aren’t any chocolate ones left!
Now, you can see why I love trees so much. Aren’t they just amazing!
Jennifer P. Tanabe 