Back in January, the DW and I set a goal of six projects we wanted to finish this year. Number six on the list was to remove the old Basswood trees in front of the house and replace them with new trees. We finished half the project in May when we cut down the old trees. That only left planting the new trees.

We decided to go with five new trees spaced evenly over about 150 feet of road frontage. There is one tree at each corner of the front of the house that will eventually provide shade from the afternoon sun while the other three will add some shade to the yard.

In order to save on cost, we went with three to four foot bare root trees from the Arbor Day Foundation. The trees are shipped dormant with no dirt around the roots, so it looks like nothing more than a bundle of sticks when you open the shipping box. No, they’re not as impressive as a six foot potted tree full of leaves from a nursery, but I’ll wager in a couple years no one will guess how they started out anyway.

The hardest part of the process for us was deciding on what type of tree to go with. We wanted something that wouldn’t lose a bunch of limbs every time the wind blows, would provide fall color, and get to be fairly big. We ended up going with Northern Red Oaks. They won’t grow as fast as a soft maple, but they should make a sturdy tree and, from what we’ve been told, grow fairly quickly compared to most oaks. As far as what that actually means – ask me in 20 years and I’ll have an answer. In the meantime, we’re down to five more home improvement projects to take off the list for this year.