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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The Hunt for Red Alder Is OVER


Last spring I tried desperately and failed to find a red alder to plant on our lawn. Red alders are beautiful tall trees and if you are interested in what they look like there is one growing in front of the ADF&G building downtown. I looked around town for one of my own and found what I thought to be a red alder and went to a great deal of effort to plant it on our lawn. It turned out to be a normal alder. I outlined the events in our blog (see below).

http://saltonstall.blogspot.com/2010/06/hunt-for-red-alder.html

http://saltonstall.blogspot.com/2010/06/wrong-alder.html

But all was not lost. Tom a reader of our blog from the land of red alders took pity on me and promised to send me a red alder for the lawn. And yesterday he delivered! A box of neatly packaged saplings arrived at the museum. And not just one red alder but three, and big leaf maple seedlings, western red cedar, and even an Oregon ash tree. I'm in Heaven and have been scouting the lawn to find places to plant the trees.

I even planted one yesterday, but after a call to a local tree expert I removed it to a bucket filled with dirt. I gather it is still a bit early to plant saplings. And indeed I note that it is 27 degrees outside with a heavy frost this morning. I'll need to wait a few weeks before I plant them. In the meanwhile, they are all waiting in the barn in their individual buckets of dirt. Stay tuned, and THANK YOU TOM! Patrick

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How awesome. I love when people jump in and offer what they have on hand and don't need. The world of bartering and helping a neighbor has sadly diminished. I am hoping with our sinking economy we will see a rise in people helping people. Happy Planting!