Trees of interest

We went to Hershey Garden Monday, mainly to see about photographing roses. The roses weren't all that nice this time of year, but we were able to get some nice shots of some interesting trees.

At my Open Garden Event, many folks were asking me about the beautiful pink tree in the middle of my back yard. It is a tricolored beech. The tree above is a mature tree in it's summer garb that grows at Hershey Gardens. It is about 30 feet tall with a lovely 20 to 30 foot spread. This tree is as impressive mature as it is in my garden as a young one. Ask me again why the beech (no matter what variety) is my favorite tree. I must admit to being more impressed with the mature trees than young ones anyway.

My new neighbors were given a variety of beautiful young trees as a house warming gift by friends who own a nursery. What a wonderful gift! There are a total of 8 trees for them. So far they have 5 of them planted. Three red maples, a weeping cherry and a young silk tree like the one above. They will be the first in the neighborhood to have a silk tree. The one shown is a mature silk tree. A lovely small tree that seems to get about 10 feet tall with at least a 15 foot spread. In the spring (early June) the flowers on this tree resemble in fragrance and look of a lilac. It is a really lovely tree! The three trees the neighbors were honored with but not planted yet (until fall as I understand) are Katsura trees. When I saw this mature one at Hershey, my first thought was that the neighbors need a bigger garden! Three of these on their acre of ground! Check out the adult people sitting under this beauty! There would be no room for the house! They were told they get about 30 feet tall. Yep, that's about right. But they were not told this tree has a 60 foot spread! This is one glorious tree but it does need ROOM! Whenever we go to Hershey, we actually seek this tree out to sit under to rest.

There are a good many beautiful trees at Hershey and when I was looking at planting trees, or whenever I'm looking for planting trees, I often go there to see the mature trees in the garden. This gives me an idea of what a mature speciman will look like and how much room to give each one. My estimate, at the moment is that when my trees are mature, my garden will be mostly shade with some sun around the house at mid-day and in the front garden over the drain field.

There are reasons I enjoy going to the public gardens, especially the ones with such good reps as Hershey and Longwood.

Relay for Cancer

Today we went to a "Relay for Cancer" event and the Conestoga Valley HS track and field. It was a wonderful day, even with the brief shower. Today was a cross dressing event for the men. Tons of fun!!

Shortly before my mother passed, another family member, Jim Ziggler passed away from cancer. This spurred on many of the family members who were closest to him to join in the fun and try to earn some money for the cause.

We couldn't resist the temptation to take pictures of the guys in the "Ziggy Zone" as they cross-dressed for this event. The object was for them to go around the entire track and field area collecting as much money as they could for cancer research.

While there we also met other folks we knew who have retired from work. This was a very fun day!

There were quite a number of men dressing for this event and I must admit I was impressed with the individually and creativity they expressed with dressing up. They each seemed to have something different to share. Some were even brave enough to wear heels and strut around the field. Now there's a feat even I wouldn't want to attempt.

I'm not exactly sure how much money the "Ziggy Zone" made for the cancer research, but I do know they made it to the "Gold Zone". Great job, folks!

I do know I left there pretty much cash poor.