Identifying (perhaps) a Tree Friend

Outside my bedroom window is a particularly beautiful, especially lush part of the garden.  Beyond the bush, small tree and other plants, in the tiny grassy front lawn, is one of my tree friends.  I hugged him/her (she is both when she communes with me) for the first time last night- three times- before writing my last blog entry, about hugging Trees.  She is a very beautiful tree, with graceful leaves of a beautiful shade of Green and smooth, silvery-gray bark.  I have often wondered what kind of Tree she is, since she is a beloved friend, and no one seemed to know- she was here when the family I live with (my second family) moved in.
After finding a database website of garden Trees (I was lucky- it was on the first page!) and going through it, and researching the likely candidates, I think I have found the answer- she is a Rowan, or Mountain-Ash, probably one of the American species.
At least, that's what I think.
They grow to a decent size fast, but stay small- purfect for a place like this.  And yes, her leaves and small branches grew back extremely fast after a major winter pruning- you can't even tell!!!
They also get berries, so maybe she isn't a Rowan after all.
Then again, maybe there are no trees to pollinate her, or maybe the winter pruning made it hard for her to produce flowers.
Or maybe my identification is wrong.
But if she is a Rowan, I wondered would she be around long after I'm gone?
Nope.
Apparently, except in certain soil types, Rowan are very short-lived.
I might be around long after SHE'S gone.
Well, okay, a bit after She's gone.
That made me sad- but I remembered that I will still have many years with her.
Who knows?  Maybe we DO have that special type of soil here after all.  You never know.  Even then, Rowans- at least the American species- only live maybe a hundred years, like me if I live a very long time.
But what matters most is that I got a chance to know this Tree in the first place.
I thought of a song I grew up with, Ronnie Milsap's 'I wouldn't have missed it for the world'.
There are a lot of plants that only live a year.  Many people never know when they might move away.  And we all end up together in the end.
But I am glad to know Him/Her in THIS lifetime, in THIS world.  Amen.
And after all, a short time for a Tree is still a very long time for me, right?
We might grow old together.  And we'll end up together on the other side.
(except Trees don't grow old- they just keep going until they get rot, or until they blow down.)
I would't miss it for the world.

David S. Annderson

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