country n news-please dont do it

COUNTRY N NEWS-PLEASE DONT DO IT

thats what i told her when she told me she was going to
cut it down

people always ask me about planting trees
they say
i want a mountain laurel in my yard

i say
it will take a long time for it to grow big
to its maximum height

eg
this one was not on this property in 1980
when our house was built
i have old pictures verifying it
so
my guess is that it was planted sometime in the late 80s
or early 90s
since it hasnt grown much since we moved in 15 years ago

you dont dare trim this thing up from the top
like dead heading it
it wont ever grow back

if it does it takes so long
youll be dead before it does

what im saying is this is a slow growing tree
usually the pride in someones landscape
if they have a big one like we have

i treat it like a bonsai tree
delicately trimming any errant branches
knowing
that a mistake
can be hard to regrow

so
back to what i told her
please dont do it

i said

ill turn you into the
mountain laurel society
a militant protector of mountain laurels

they will sneak into your property
and
cut down any replacement tree you plant
if you
cut down a mountain laurel

now our most enjoyment of this tree
besides its beauty
is the purple blooms in april each year
that
make our property smell like grape koolaid

so when this person was gone
i snuck into her yard
wrapped the tree with christmas gift wrapping ribbon
and
placed a flower on the front
letting her know
that
the whole world was watching
ready
to shame her publicly if necessary

yes
i will go to extremes to save a tree
especially one like this one
a beautiful mountain laurel

the organicgreen doctor