A Man Who Plants Trees

He that plants trees loves others besides himself.   –Thomas Fuller

Photo by Rosemarie Varner

My dear husband Chris has been planting trees for over forty years–this flowering dogwood in front of the Odessa First United Methodist Church is just one of thousands that are the legacy of his hands and spade.

Watching him plant a large tree is a study in precision and ease and of sweat and dirt.  He places the tree, then cuts a circle around it with his sharp spade.  He moves the tree aside and expertly skims the sod from the circle.  His foot steps the spade into the soil with a satisfying sound, and he lays that spadeful neatly beside the hole.  He continues to step, lift, step, lift, step, lift–making it look easy, even as the sweat starts rolling off his face and arms.  A sharp clunking sound and a jarring vibration in his hands indicate a rock, and with additional finesse and muscle, he removes it from the neat, straight-sided hole.  With the handle of his spade, he measures the correct depth so the tree is not planted too deeply or too high.  The width is one and a half times the diameter of the root ball.  He gently rolls the tree into the hole, cuts the twine and unpins the burlap from the root ball, kneeling in the dirt he just overturned.  By now his shirt is wet with sweat, and his cap and belt are dark-stained with the salty moisture.  The tree is in its place, and with a vertical, cutting motion with the spade, he tamps the soil into the hole to anchor the roots in their new home.  His ‘helper’ (me) turns on the water hose and trickles water as he tamps, and soon the hole is filled with dirt and water.  The sod is chunked into strips and lined around the hole, and the bermed crater is soaked with a slow stream of water.

Chris has planted trees of every kind and size in four states, has grown them from seed, has pruned them, watered them, moved them, cared for them, and reluctantly cut them down.  He has planted trees to memorialize people who have died and to celebrate people who are alive.  He’s a tree man through and through.

Arbor Day was established in Nebraska in April of 1872 by J. Sterling Morton, a journalist who wrote and spoke of environmental stewardship and the interrelatedness of life.  He wanted to set aside one day for people to plant trees and learn to care for them.  Trees are the symbol of life and reflect a hope for the future and concern for the generations yet to come.  Arbor Day is now celebrated in every state and in other countries.  Many school children receive a free tree sapling to bring home to plant.  In the words of J. Sterling Morton:

“ … all the people strive on Arbor Day to plant many, many trees, both forest and fruit. May the day and the observance thereof be cherished in every household, and its name and fruits become as a shower of blessing to the long lines of generations who shall succeed us.”

Today on Arbor Day, step outside and receive the shower of blessing from all the trees that surround you, and leave a legacy for the future generations by planting a tree.