Spring’s hope

“He who plants a tree, plants a hope.” – Lucy Larcom, American poet

Generations ago, some forward-thinking pioneers planted a bunch of willows out in the middle of the desert. It’s one of the only ways I can distinguish our little patch of paradise from the rest of the desert in this desolate landscape. These willows are now towering old-growths that provide nesting areas for wildlife and a nice refuge from the punishing wind. However, some of them are now dead or dying (side note: hello firewood!) and it’s time to pay it forward for future generations.

My in-laws have been planting trees out here for about two decades now and thank goodness. While some have thrived, countless others have not. The hybrid willows and the Russian olives have been a resounding success, while the legend has it that one spring they planted no less than 100 black cottonwoods that haven’t been heard from since. It is not a forgiving environment. Young trees have much to overcome – gophers, porcupines, beavers, deer and cows can kill them before they even have a chance to bud out. High winds and heavy snow can topple them in an instant. So we have to stake them and cage them until they get big enough to take the abuse from the wildlife and weather on their own. Then there is the issue of water. They call it the desert for a reason. Water isn’t exactly plentiful. Until their roots reach the ground water, they need regular waterings in order to sustain life. Another strike is the alkaline, heavy clay soil out here. One friend of ours noted that you can practically hear the plants cringing and screaming “Nooooooooo!” when you go to transplant them into this challenging climate.

Even so, we want to make sure there are trees here for our kids and grandchildren. We ordered about 80 trees last fall. Some willows, some fruit trees and a few spruce. We’ve been planting them for the past three weeks – some went in the orchard, some along the creek and some in the backyard. Some went in pots in the greenhouse until we figure out a place to put them. We hoped that the desert soil wasn’t too much of a shock for them and that they would survive. We staked and caged them for support and protection. We supplemented the soil with peat moss, some gypsum and a slow release fertilizer, and we’ve been watering diligently.

But between the stress of shipping and sitting in our garage for a few days, we weren’t sure that we’d done entirely right by these trees. Perhaps there was just too much stacked against them from the beginning.

But then …

Hope.

We know it’s early yet, but with these swollen buds and greenery we have hope that these young trees will be here for many years to come. Perhaps in a roundabout way it’s also a metaphor for our situation out here. Sometimes it’s ok to invest time and energy not knowing exactly when, or if, or in what form the dividends will come. Sometimes this vast space seems a little overwhelming and intimidating, the dry landscape testing the will of those who wish to set roots here… yet we continue to try to find a way. Spring is here and so is hope.