Why I Oughta...

Back on Earth Day this Spring, the kids and I went over to Benet Academy and picked up a free native tree seedling from their Environmental Club.  The tree was very small - a little trunk - and a lot of roots.  It was a Shagbark Hickory and I planted it in the backyard .  I then, promptly, forgot about the tree.  I figured it was dead.  Or never alive.  There were a couple of buds on the tree seedling, but I wasn't positive it had any life in it to begin with when I planted it in May. The tree has done nothing.  The buds didn't open.  The tree didn't leaf out at all.  Here is a look at the tree in the photo below: The photo isn't great because it is hard to get my phone to focus on the tiny, thin trunk.  Here's an annotated photo (below) with a red line showing the trunk and a few branches up top.  Again...no leaves at all on this tree. It is dead, right?  At least, that's what I assumed.  But, when I did the whole 'fingernail trick' on the trunk of the

This marks the 53rd tree that I've planted on our property since we planted our first one on Earth Day 2017.  This was a tiny, bareroot tree that we picked up from the Environmental Club from Benet Academy.  They were giving away tiny trees for their Earth Day project.  There were a couple of Oak trees to choose from (Burr and Pin) and this Shagbark Hickory.  You can see the little tree in the photo below that measures close to 36" tall including all the roots.  That's about 24" below the ground and about 12" above ground.   The roots were wrapped in newspaper and then in plastic.  I removed the packaging, straightened out some of the roots and planted in in the bed - not far from the fence - in amongst the hydrangeas on the south side of the backyard.   Here is the Shagbark Hickory as it stands now: I'm not getting too attached to this little tree, but I'll give it some water and a little bit of food and see what happens. As for the full list of trees, h