We planted the sequoia in the top picture, from a box of various seedlings we purchased from Weyerhaeuser in 1972.. We had devised a plan to buy a box of Fir seedlings and plant them around the back yard and in 7 years have a big party where friends could come and saw down a Christmas Tree. Well, it was the Seventies and we obviously knew nothing about gardening. We did manage to get a few trees that we used for family Christmas trees. The rest were casualties of soccer games and gardener neglect. The one sequoia seedling which we stuck in a corner and ignored, took off, as did some pine seedlings we planted out front.
Over the years we developed an interest in unusual or special trees. We became more interested in tree collecting than gardening. We went to specialty nurseries all over Western Washington and Oregon, bought saplings from mail order, and sent away for seeds. We got many from the wonderful Seattle area nurseries. We got a lot from Medina Nursery where we bought almost all of our Japanese Maples.
We got enormous enjoyment from pruning, tending to, and watching the trees flourish and mature. The trees were not the only thing to grow old. We eventually got off the ladders and have turned the pruning and the difficult work over to the gardeners, and arborists. We are fortunate to have capable help. We have plenty of trees that were planted in the wrong place, or maybe should not have been planted at all. We have done a lot of editing and have taken out a number and relocated others. Some we could not bring ourselves to remove. They remain. It is difficult to hide your mistake when it is a 40 foot tree.
We were amazed when a recent count showed a total of 85 trees, with over 50 different varieties: 33 were over 30 feet tall. Only 2 of those existed when we moved in to the property on July 11, 1971.
We have included photographs of some of our trees.
Photographs and web design by Sophia
