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| Red Oak in 2010 |
When we purchased our
home almost forty years ago, the front yard had several trees. A Chinaberry
tree stood next to the driveway with a young Mimosa a few feet away. Although
many people don’t like Chinaberries because of their messy berries and invasive
nature, we knew nothing about the tree. Within a few years, its roots sought
out and destroyed our sewer line. We had to remove it, along with the Mimosa,
when the plumbers trenched our front yard.
Replacing the trees
took us several years because we simply didn’t know what we wanted. Our back
yard’s wooded area included a young Live Oak, two Arizona Ashes, two Swamp
Maples, and another Mimosa. I knew more about the ashes as every builder in San
Antonio planted these fast growing trees into new bulldozed neighborhoods. The
fast growing Swamp Maples shaded our yard, but we saw evidence of rot in both
of them within a year or two. We’d almost decided to put in a Live Oak out
front when two of our neighbors planted Red Oaks.
These lovely trees,
although young, changed leave colors from their first year of planting. Turning
the corner onto our street, their four trees offered shade in the summers and
splendid reds each fall. Once we decided to continue the Red Oak’s trail down
our street, we found a small tree at a
local nursery.
Every year, I eagerly await the turning of the leaves.
Copyright 2023 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman
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