When my father passed away in 2002, age 94, it had been a while since he'd last lovingly tended his gardens of flowers, vegetables, and other unusuals such as castor bean plants, banana trees, and willows planted rightside up so they wouldn't "weep."
He liked them that way as well as the usual lovely weeping branches next to his long-time bed of irises, yet his scampish sense of humor extended to the garden, too...hence the curly-cued willow tree which he liked to call "a curiosity."
No one chuckled more than he did over the odd-shaped potato that (sort of) favored Abe Lincoln!
Mr. C. loved cutting the lawn as well--without fail--and he always beveled the grass all the way down the driveway...somehow it was important to him. And if you know anything about astrology signs, then you know the deal--he was born when the sun was in earthy Taurus, sign of the gardener.
With tomorrow, Friday, being Arbor Day, my mind wanders to him and to all the trees he loved, trees which I have known and loved all my life.
Having hugged a few here and there--nothing untoward, mind you!--I'm posting a few of my tree drawings some of which you may have seen here before or elsewhere, but all of which want to join in the celebration of their namesake Day--and perhaps pay a small tribute to a man who loved to tend them so dearly, the curious ones and the plain.
Often people driving by our house would stop their cars to ask after and compliment his flowery handiwork if they saw him nearby--his yard was, I may say, the well-tended highlight of the neighborhood--and having a creek nearby which was crowned by an artesian well didn't hurt the place either. Artesian water rules!
Yet while no one stopped to hear my poems, you have the dubious honor of putting up with the following trifle concerning my southern summers spent in the tops o'trees--for I never met a tree I couldn't climb and from which a small child surveyed what seemed to be the entire world from within my father's garden:
When trees I climb on summer's day
as closer to the clouds I play
brown bark green leaves abloom limb's end
a branch so often my best friend.
The redbud blossoms by the oaks
a grove of pines the South evokes
a willow weeps by gurgling stream
my father's garden now a dream.
Hope you enjoy my Tree Gallery and if you find a favorite amongst them, I'd love to know about it, and...
Happy Arbor Day, Yall!
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Comments: 23
By the way I found this in the feel good gather groups top 5 articles!
For me, it was that crabapple tree in the front yard that I'd climb.
Thanks, La Bellota--we had wild cherry trees (I have one by my driveway now), and tulip trees grew all around.
And my land did have a stand of 3 poplar trees--the tallest in the forest--until a really bad winter storm in the early 90s--and all 3 were uprooted. We really missed them in the fall for their bright yellow splash--every fall in fact!