Me too. I have baby native oaks (from acorns) carefully placed around the garden--eventually they will take over my garden, and I hope, live for centuries, or at least many decades to come.

There's one beautiful old native oak in the neighborhood. I often wonder if someone planted it. They can easily live 500 years.

I was looking around Google maps at my Mom & Dad's old home, and was really surprised and pleased that the plain common Arborvitae they planted when they moved in long before I was born is still there, and looks beautiful. That was really touching, as they are both gone now...probably never imagined when they planted it how long it would survive.

mmmm, it is quite extraordinary, Gail, (and poignant), that trees can act as a conduit for so many memories. I grow plants on momentary whims and fancies but choosing trees has revealed a previously unknown (certainly unexercised) responsibility on my part. The consequences of planting something which has the potential of affecting the landscape for years and years requires a bit more consideration than my usual gung-ho approach.

No living organism possesses more dignity, more majesty, than a mature tree. They are the strong beating heart of the garden.
In a world in which so many bad things are happening, and we seem to be persisting on the road to disaster, it comforts me that at least I can try to get trees to grow. I put it this way advisedly. The big garden needs trees in absolutely the worst way, but trees require certain conditions to grow, and those conditions aren't present. I continue to sow acorns and plant flowering ashes and hazelnuts, then wait, and hope. (Perhaps one day I'll even work to improve tree planting sites. I can add it to the ten thousand items already on my list of things to do.)
I'm glad for your trees and it makes me happy to think of the richer and more life-full ecosystem you're helping to create. That poplar plantation always had a somewhat man-made, sterile sound to me. Are they all native species? I'm wondering particularly about the black pines. I notice that you're growing gracefully into gardening on a larger scale.
Melissa
P.S. You're not thinking of oaks?

Campanula, you will find as I am sure you know, that when you have some trees established in your wood in addition to the poplars, you will magically have plenty of tree seedlings from then on, without doing anything!

Tree seedlings are the main weeds in our garden. Or, at least the main ones I worry about weeding out, as the consequences of ignoring them are worse than the small weeds. The squirrels plant lots of them for me, including in 6 inch flower pots up on our front porch - one year I had 8 pots with black walnut trees coming up in them - it was so funny!

North American black walnut, scarlet oaks, local native live oaks, privet (of course!), plums, bay laurel, tree of heaven, eugenia, figs, maples, and I'm sure I have forgotten many... I think our garden would revert to forest in a very short amount of time if left to itself.

Most of these are seedlings from large trees growing in our garden, of course. We have planted one or two of the maples - they are so pretty. We gave a scarlet oak seedling to our brother & sister-in-law. They have a one acre lot, and so plenty of room for its enormousness. It is now about 20 years old and 20 feet tall and still climbing.

My DH's grandfather planted the oldest of our mature scarlet oaks - it is now huge. The other one was a volunteer, according to my father-in-law, and they just let it grow. I have pictures of our house and garden from 1905 when it was brand new - no trees, and just newly planted flowers and bushes. Looks amazingly different. Then, there is the picture from 1925 which shows one of those squat type of palm trees right in the middle of the front lawn, taking up most of the space in front of the house...that is one tree I do not regret they got rid of. We still do get palm seedlings occasionally - I forgot to put those on the list.

Enjoy planting all of your seeds, and then, stand back!

Jackie

Thinking of oaks? Course I am....and I have been picking acorns from the ground already. Am going with 90% natives (because this allows us all to indulge ourselves with some exotic (to us) choices....such as the redwoods stratifying in my fridge at the moment....and the various acers, including the lovely A,ginnala 'Flame; and a sugar maple, of course.
The black pines are from our local graveyard - trees that have featured since I arrived in Cambridge 40 years ago. I walk this graveyard ('The Gravy') every single day (I was dreaming about it during a 5 year college break on the south coast).
Oh yeah, I know this will make you shudder, Melissa, but robinia is on my list because it makes such great timber (I am growing for the greenwood-workers in the family too).

It was my birthday today so I took myself to the local botanics - a bit of a sad trip since it has been going downhill for the last decade despite charging us all around 6 dollars (4.5pounds) to get in and spending a whole heap of money on new buildings - the actual gardens are a sad state - Graham Stuart Thoams would be horrified and the rose gardens, in particular are truly decrepit - hard to imagine that this is the home of the lovely R.cantabridgiensis and numerous hardy geraniums. Nonetheless, not a wasted trip since I came across a fabulous late season shade lover - the wonderful strobilanthes, previously only known to me as a foliage plant. S.atropurpurea and S.penstemonoides - gorgeous - and I helped myself to a whole heap of seeds as well as scouring underneath various trees, filling many little brown envelopes. especially pleased with some of the species delphiniums and the turbo-charged poppy, hunnemannia fumisomething (one for you, Ingrid) as well as many salvia cuttings (kindly glasshouse worker simply looked the other way.
To finish, I am about to make myself some raspberry and white chocolate muffins.

Absoluitely right, Jacqueline. We pondered the free and easy bird method of establishing a hedge. Simply string a wire between 2 posts and perching (and pooing) birds will do the rest - takes about 20 years though. However, my meddling nature requires me to get my hands in amongst the soil and leafage.....and, despite my slack approach, I am actually a bit of a control freak and inveterate experimenter.
Yeah, one of my customers used to have a large gravel area just underneath a huge maple....which had to be pulled by hand. 100s of 'em! My most annoying weed is grass so trees seem like a welcome change since I cannot imagine many of them surviving the razor sharp selection of hoes and scythes in my arsenal.
Loved the pictures, earlier Jacqueline - too gorgeous to be improved upon - our woods are NOT anything like that.
Annoyingly, I had bought milk chocolate by mistake, instead of white so I made raspberry and almond muffins instead (and ate the chocolate).