My Newest Tree

A few years ago, maybe 5 or more, I was shopping in the garden section of Home Depot.  I looked at the trees on clearance and there I found a river birch clump for $15.  FIFTEEN DOLLARS!  This was an incredible sale. I've always liked birch trees because of their peeling bark.  As a kid I used to stand next to our paper birches.  I was so tempted to peel the bark.  If my Mom saw me even standing close to the tree she'd yell, "Keep your cotton picking hands off the birch tree!"  She knew I was tempted.  I like river birch even more because they are more disease resistant and the bark is orange (my favorite color).  So I grabbed my river bark birch tree clump and put it in my cart.  When I got to my car, I realized it wasn't going to fit so well into a Honda civic.  I wasn't sure it was going to fit at all.  I stood in the parking lot, scratching my head and thinking about it when a car pulled up.  A woman got out of the car with two men.  She said, "That woman needs help getting her tree into her car."  The two men obediently helped me get the tree into the car.  I planted it right away and I must have picked a good spot because it is thriving and growing taller every year. I think it looks so pretty!  I don't know if this photo does it justice but the bark is a earthy, warm and comforting shade of orange.  I think it will look even prettier against the snow.