Sometimes, the idea of looking at 6th graders' forays into the world of coordinate planes is just not all that compelling, however.
Last week, I visited my dad for spring break. We spent the week planting seedlings of Douglas fir, grand fir, western larch, and western white pine on our property. The place had been burned by a catastrophic fire in 1915, and we've been speeding up the recovery process by planting in the open areas. Even without our help, the forest seems to be reclaiming the mountain on an exponential curve... It won't be long before it is once again covered in conifers.
The cool thing about planting seedlings is that I get the chance to look at thousands of young plants one by one. Last year, Dad found an Engelmann spruce that I'm still evaluating- so I was hoping that something cool would show up in the batch of 2300 trees that we bought.
This doug fir may turn out to be nothing special- it is hard to say. It was obviously different from the other ones in its plastic bag. I noticed the slightly curled needles first as I planted 20 or 30 other seedlings in my bucket. Finally, I got curious and pulled it out. It looks to me like it may be contorted. The needles are all hooked, and the stem and twigs look like they have a little bit of a squiggle to them.
As with so many things in life... the true nature of this tree will only be revealed in time. I'm not always a patient person, I guess. I think that maybe this is one of the great lessons I get from these plants. I may have just discovered something exquisite- a treasure that will grow into a thing of rare beauty- but I won't know for some time.
I guess the thing I like about trees is that they silently do their thing, giving you no option but to wait. At least my garden is a pretty nice place in which to do the waiting :)
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