PLANT A TREE AND WATCH IN GROW

In the Rosewood News in the Thief River Falls Times, it is said that Gust Opseth bought seedling cedar trees to plant around his new home. Pictures taken decades later, show the trees grew!

Funny thing about trees, most of us don't 'see' the trees grow. Old Trunks has a sweet story for you. It was mother's day and the children bought a silver maple tree for me as a gift. The idea to give the tree as well as nurture it by watering it that first summer. The tree was planted near the corner of the sidewalk and the drive way. In time the tree would become the shade from the west as we sat on the small deck at the front of the house.

The tree was named 'Twilight'. And Twilight, like all good silver maples grew like a weed. It was strong enough for Bud to hang on one of the branches or hang his newspaper bag.

A few years passed and Twilight encountered what looked like a lightening strike. The answer was not to cut it down, rather to ampulate the top and paint the stump and hope, like the good little maple it was, it would shoot out new branches and continue to grow. As remembered, nearly all the pictures taken on the deck had Twilight as a back ground.

We tried to add other named trees to the front yard. One was a plum tree, called Purple Plum, most likely named for the game and a Sweet Gum tree which was more of a southern species, one got worms and the other one froze out.