This is sort of how I feel about my pomegranate.

That's an excellent quote Lilo. I don't think I've ever planted a single thing that wouldn't come to fruition in my lifetime. Your quote is so simple and yet expresses a complete philosophy of life and now I feel guilty.

I adore this quote, and thank you for finding it. I've seen and used a Chinese, or maybe it was Amerindian quote expressing the very same idea, but I like the prose in this one better.

When I planted my black walnut trees, was it about sixteen years ago? My fathers says, you will never live to see the nuts. I just asked him what would happen if everyone didn't plant a tree because they'd never live to see the fruit? I planted it anyway. It was the same philosophy my mother used as she left gardens around the world for somebody else to enjoy. BTW, I've had nuts on my trees several years now. LOL.

I was just yesterday looking at trees - I'm going to be buying two for my new house. I wasn't going to plant an oak because it would take so long to mature...now that I've read this I'm inspired to get that little oak. Thanks, Lilo.

It's surprising how quickly trees mature, or should I say the years go by? LOL. Many mature a lot sooner than you'd expect. When I first started coming to the GW, back when the party was young, I met another GPer at a wonderful little specialty nursery in Southern Ohio whom my nursery inspector told me had a specialty in variegated stock.

I fell in love with a really tiny variegated oak tree. Had never seen another one, ever. It couldn't have even been a foot tall, more like eight inches and cost twenty one dollars. Of course, I bought it anyway. This year, it's bearing acorns. That's amazingly fast, I never expected to see acorns from it in my lifetime. I've had it less than thirteen years, perhaps more like twelve.

It's no longer variegated, as I couldn't bring myself to cut off the green branches as I was instructed when I bought it. They took over. It's in the white oak family and if one chooses their variety of oaks carefully, they'll find that some are fairly rapid growers when they are young. Mine has reached well to the second story of my house and that's no small feat, given its size.

A fruit, a nut, and an evergreen. Planted at every place I've lived, and one for every acre of land I've owned. That's not so very many, so many I should plant some more, just to celebrate being able to plant.

A few years ago I went by my first apartment [the owner had given permission] and found the walnut hadn't survived, but the dwarf hemlock was looking good. According to one of the residents, the apple tree was producing well, in spite of being in the 'big city'; she said she had to teach the children to wait until they ripened before eating. For a while, I understood the generational connection.

A wonderful quote.

When our neighbors took down the huge oak at the corner of our property (but growing primarily on theirs)...I was quite upset.

Just this summer I found a young oak tree, about 2'-3' tall, that had sprouted up hidden in a lilac just 15 feet from where the old tree stood. A baby from the big giant. DD, who remembers the big tree well was so excited to see the little tree.

Next spring I'm finding it a permanent spot.

I drive by where i grew up and a huge mock orange bush is still there. In ETX i drive by too and the cedars and crepe myrtles and a catalba i planted are still there.Their flower beds are even in the same place. Always get a warm feeling to go by. I wont get to drive by where i live now. I hope the woods will always be here.