So..........many trees, so little time. Robert and I have just returned from our semi-annual tree buying trip to California. By visiting the growers directly it allows us to find some incredible new varieties that we may not have known about, as well as pick out our own trees. Straight trunks, large calipers, no cracks or splitting bark, and gorgeous canopies are just a few of the things we are searching for. Traveling up and down the hundreds of acres of tr ees with our sales reps it also allows us to pick their brains on what varieties we might be missing that do well in our area. They are also very familiar of what alkaline soils can do to certain trees, and steer us away from them. We found some amazing trees this time. I think I like going in the winter better than our summer trip because you can see the branching pattern on the trees so much better. While the area is absolutely beautiful when everything in leafed out and flowering as it is in the summer (think Southern California trees when you are visualizing the flowers as they also grow all of those varieties) the winter trip allows me to really get to see everything so much better.

In this picture I am standing in the bucket of a 25 gallon Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia L) that had the most amazing branching pattern. I am 5'10", and as you can see it is easily double my height. I picked up 10 of these, one of which I am told by Robert is going into our own backyard.
We also got a great deal on a large lot of 5 gallon Ash trees (Fraxinus americana), a perfect shade tree for this area.

Today we started a huge undertaking to make way for all these beauties, and when I get the pictures downloaded tomorrow.......well.....you know how it goes............the story continues. See you soon, Susan