Saturday, May 16, 2009

Talking to Trees

I talk to myself a lot but every morning, for another week or so, I'll be saying "good morning" to these beauties. What's so special about these trees? I've been looking for them but no one knew where I could see what a mature Tipu tree looks like. Where did I find this lovely patch of 7 full grown trees? It turns out I've been driving by these lovelies every day for the last 4 years....Luckily, I haven't spent that long on the hunt. It's only been a few weeks since it was recommended as a good tree to plant in my yard.

I found a great designer, Ray, who's helping me figure out how to landscape my front and back yards. Drainage has always been an issue and it's turned out to be a bigger one than I thought. Boo hoo and sleepless nights later....
Digging a water retention area in the yard is #1 on the list and these trees live happily in that environment. In fact, the ones I found are in a retention area. I've had some reservations about these trees. They're not deciduous, I like my morning sun. I don't want to plant them and live like a mole in the dark, blah, blah, blah blah, blah, bla....Ooh, look at the pretty flowers! Ray showed me a Tipu tree at the nursery. He planted one in his yard but couldn't show me what they look like mature. So Wed. I'm driving to work and noticed the yellow blooms where there hadn't been any before. "Wait! Are those small leaves? Is it????? Could it be an elusive tipu tree? " I asked myself. The suspense! I had to wait until the afternoon to ride around the block a few times to figure out where I'd seen them. Yeah, right around the corner from the Chicklet's school....The first thing I did was call Ray and let him know I'd found Tipu trees. Yes, I know, tree nerds...But look at the pretty flowers!

Needless to say, he was relieved to be able to erase the question mark next to "Tipu tree" on the plant list. Both the Chicklet and I gave it a thumbs up. Now Ray is going to go check the trees out too. Poor man, I keep sending him places...
Tree nerds... What kind of pocket protectors do they/we use?

Heard enough about trees? Too bad, here's more:Palo Verde tree-high on my wish list. I love the green bark and the yellow blooms. Their flowering season is coming to an end.Varieties of different strains of Palo Verdes are all over Phoenix. These are outside the library near work.A friend referred to this as "yellow snow." I scrounged around for a container and gathered up handfuls of fallen blooms. They're drying out in the classrroom. Don't know what the plan is for them but one teacher suggested to the kids that that's how natural colors might have been used in paints long ago. Might be worth a try to see how crushed blooms will mix to make paint.

Oh, and on the the subject of talking to trees....Last week at the SARK workshop I met a lady who communicates with plants/trees for her livlihood. She said the plants speak to her. It sure was a different crowd than I'm used to and that I did expect. So when she told us what she did, we didn't blink an eye. And really, isn't the thought intriguing? What would it be like if we could communicate with plants?

3 comments:

  1. Very cool girlie. I love Palo Verdes too but not when their "yellow snow" winds up 2 inches thick in my pool ;-)

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  2. OK, I promise to keep my yellow snow to myself, lol!
    M

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  3. Have just had a very enjoyable time catching up with you,M.

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