Arbor Day Anon! - and Other Matters

Of all the wonders of nature, a tree in summer is perhaps the most remarkable; with the possible exception of a moose singing "Embraceable You" in spats.

~Woody Allen

And the best way to insure you have a tree in summer is to plant one. How to insure your moose will sing is another question altogether.

Which is to bring to your attention that today, somewhere, it's probably Arbor Day. Arbor Day began in Nebraska in 1872 at the urging of one J. Sterling Morton, but soon thereafter the concept of a special day to celebrate the planting of trees swept the country. It is observed on different days in different states, roughly coinciding with the optimum times to plant a tree in our climatologically diverse country. If you live in Florida or Louisiana, then you've missed it; they both celebrated the A-Day in January. So too for all of us with National Arbor Day, which came and went on March 29th.

But in Virginia and North Carolina, Arbor Day is coming up, on the 12th and 26th of this month respectively. This is right in our neighborhood and leaves us plenty of time to get moving.

As the saying goes, the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago; the second best time is now. So get planting. Perhaps a yard full of trees bursting in springtime will be just the thing that gets your moose to sing.