Great topic! Even better with pics... I bet that redbud will be blooming soon, plantingman ;-)

The first tree I planted was a sycamore in 2010. It was a 3' bareroot branchless whip with a trunk about as thick as a pencil! It could barely stand up on its own, especially in windy or rainy conditions. It has put on 2-3'+ growth per season and is around 10' tall and about 1/2 to 2/3 as wide as it is tall. I think it is from a seed source somewhere north of my area as it leafs out a good 2-3 weeks after the local population. I bought it from naturehills nursery located in Nebraska but I don't know for sure where they got the seed from..

Now, it is my favorite tree at our place and has huge leaves and a great fragrance combined with great pealing bark. The tree lacks in fall color but it stands out the other 50 weeks of the year :-)

Douglas Fir in second grade....planted it in the woods, not sure what happened to it.

My first one was a european beech sapling that I collected in the wild and planted in a not so fitting place in my own little wood. I think it was six years ago and since that it has grown from five inches to maybe three feet. They grow slow when young and especially in dry, poor soil among pineand oak in a mountain slope. It does survive though, and will propably become large eventually

I will definitely get a pic when it blooms and post it to this thread. Not sure why I didn't think of that...

This arbor day foundation metasequoia eight or nine years back.

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Its on the far right in this bucket

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PB is not what it used to be.

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I planted a sugar maple when I was 8 or 9 (back in '01 or '02) - I dug up a 4 foot sapling from the woods behind our house. It did quite well; it's a 20 foot understory tree, now.

I planted a russian olive "quicksilver". Not too long after that I planted my first apple tree (honeygold)

It was either a Sycamore or a N Red oak. Both are still growing in my neighbors yard. Both are at least 12 " - 14" trunk thickness at least. The property was mine when I planted them. I'll try to get a picture of them.

The first tree I planted was a dogwood tree, soon after I planted about 20 other ones that randomly spurted up from the ground, they were about to be ploughed down by a bulldozer and I decided to save em, about 90% of them are living and are in full sun and are acting as over story trees to a few red buds (oh the irony lol)

My first was a weeping cherry, a first anniversary present from my ex. Little did I know then what terrible mistake both were. LOL!!!

When I was about 10, I rooted a branch from the weeping willow in our yard in a pop bottle. Then I grew it in a plastic pot for a while, and finally I planted it in a neighbor's yard because my parents didn't want any more weeping willows. The last time I saw it (about 20 years ago) it was about 12" in diameter and still growing fast.

When I was about 7, I dug up a little dogwood tree and planted it at my parents weekend place. It was the middle of summer and they didn't think it would survive since we were only up there on the weekends and there was nobody to water it during the week. It survived and is still growing today. That was about 40 years ago.

I am not entirely sure, but i think this is how it went. I sowed a N. Red Oak and Red Maple when my grandmother lived with us. I guess I was 4. In the 1st grade we all grew Honey Locust trees from seed as well. All 3 trees grew until I was in college.

I came back one day to find out my dad cut down all but 3 trees in the entire yard. He cut down all the trees I planted as well as about 20-30 other trees in the yard. Come to find out he was complaining about raking the leaves, and egging him on, my mother dared him to cut all the trees down. And so he did...

I was mad for a good week.

For a great while a long, long time ago I bought B&B Christmas trees that were planted after the holiday season. Several did pretty well. I may drive by the old house if I have a chance and see if any of them are still around.

Best Wishes--Carl
Atlanta, GA
ITP

Toronado, I wish my Dawn Redwood had such good form as yours does. Mine was a tree in a box tree. I think that by growing it on my windowsill till it got about a foot tall messed up the correct form. Well, it looks okay in leaf, but when bare you can see that there are crossing branches and bad form.

jqpublic,
I still would not be talking to him, and probable not to my mother either. Would have taken more than a week for the intensity of anger to get to maximum.

FTR, I don't know my first tree. Did so many growing up, most of which didn't make it. Most of those that did, were taken out by a tornado in May 2011.

Arktrees

yeah it sucks when family members don't understand your appreciation for trees. My father just doesn't get it, he gets upset everytime I plant a tree in our yard...he sees it as more work for him. Personally I think raking leaves and mowing grass is a waste of time. We rarely use our lawn for anything, maybe parties once in a while and that only takes up a small fraction of the entire lawn. I only see my neighbors interacting with their lawn when they have to mow it or rake leaves.

Well, it looks like I may not be able to post a pic of that Redbud tree in bloom afterall. We just had an ice storm blow through last night and this morning and many of the area redbud trees' flower buds are on the ground right now. :-(
I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens in a few days.

I'm sure I planted something at my chidhood home but can't recall.

First tree I planted at a home I owned vicariously through the bank was the ubiquitous Autumn Blaze Maple. Granted it was crappy soil and was prone to flooding in the spring. I remember being so worried about the branching structure that I spent hours picking it out, lol. I'd have to walk through the new owners yard to get a pic. Might be a bit weird...

Other trees are growing nicely in the front yard though. I put a Amur Chokecherry in the front.

Colorado Blue Spruce, ... followed by River Birch ...

When I was born, my father planted a quercus robur for me in the house we lived in at the time. Although technically I didn't plant that one. That one is still going strong.

I planted a olea europaea subsp. cuspidata (wild olive) with my father when I was about 8 or 9.

The first tree I planted by myself was a galpinia transvaalica (Pride of Transvaal) that I bought as a twisted and neglected little sapling and turned into a very nice bonsai.

The first tree I planted in the US was a dogwood that apparently didn't even survive the first spring.

I have pics of my first 2. The post is old by now but here goes: {{gwi:341105}} {{gwi:341106}} The red oak is the one in between the last 2 spruces in the backround. The sycamore is the tall leafless tree in the first pic.

The first ones I really helped plant were these two (pin oaks, I believe?) planted in around '66.
Had to go to Google Earth for that lovely image, ha.

But my love of gardening started way before that- here I am in around '58 admiring the blooms!!

First...probably a set of pomegranates that I rooted when I was 8 years old; 47 years ago now, and they were still alive and fruiting the last time I passed the old home place.

The very first I remember planting was a Montmorency cherry.

First tree I planted completely by myself was a N Catalpa ~1972. A good tree now, but stunted a bit (only 50' x 50') from chronic verticullium wilt affecting random branches.