Trees

Anyone who knows me even a little bit knows I'm wild about flowers.

basket of gold (aurina) & rock cress

Money Plant

Candy Tuft

Grape Hyacinth

But what really gives my yard structure and presence this time of year are the trees.

After all winter long of seeing them stand out there like naked sticks, it's so nice to watch them put their leaves back on.

These are the trees I have in my back yard:
Maple, Japanese
Maple, Ginnala
Pine, Austrian
Quaking Aspen
Russian Olive Tree
Ornamental Plum

(plus a few more I have yet to identify)....

We also have some HUGE lilac bushes that look more like trees.  Same goes for our row of  snowball bushes.  They have been trained to grow like trees with a dominant trunk and big puffy tops.

When we were looking at houses two years ago while planning our move to Boise the presence or absence of mature trees was the deal breaker on a lot of places looked at.  We passed up on some drop dead gorgeous houses simply because they did not have any (or very few) established trees.  When we saw this place, I just KNEW it was the one.  The house is your basic late 70's ranch.  It certainly meets our needs.  But there is nothing particularly special about it.  That's ok with me.  Fancy houses are lovely, but are not really my style.   I'll trade in central vac and granite counter tops for a stand of mature trees any day of the week.