Proverbial
There is a Greek proverb, “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they will never sit in.” I used to think about that when I sat in the backyard of our old house, looking at our baby Mexican plum tree wondering if I would see it get big.
Today, I stopped by Calloway’s, which is a garden store on the way home from the kids’ school. Then, I stopped by Walton’s nursery which was on the way to some other errands I was running. I bought:
One Bur Oak
One Hearts of Gold Redbud
One American (Savannah) Holly
One Red Maple (the native kind)
Four Little Gem Magnolias
One 25-foot tall Ginkgo and I hope to goodness it is a male.
They are being delivered tomorrow and will be planted on Monday. I’ve already called to have the sewer and power lines marked. I’m excited.
Dance with the Reaper 
I’ve been in my house for 8 years, during which time I have planted a Callery Pear, a Norway Maple, a River Birch (a trinitarian tree) and a pin oak (which I rescued from under a hedge when it was 4″ high)
The first 3 are at least 50 % taller then they were 7,4, and 3 years ago; the pin oak has grown 14 feet in the past 4 years.
You are doing a mitzvah for the earth. Remember NOT to pile chipped wood around the roots: they need air
Planting trees….it is something humans do. I like to think that God has fun watching us be human, just as we have fun watching our babies be babies or our dogs be dogs.
A good life would be filled with activities that are uniquely human…cooking and sharing food, dancing, making art, studying rocks, gazing at butterflies, writing, building useful and beautiful things……
Update: the trees are all in the ground, along with another redbud my neighbor gave me. It’s beginning to shape up to be a beautiful yard.