I'm so glad you chose this poem for today's thought. We really don't own our domain, we borrow it for awhile. That means we are more like stewards than masters. What is ironic is that many of us are not in a position to give back to the land until we are older, more wealthy, more knowedgeable. By that time, it dawns on us that we are finite and know that we'll never see the fruition of certain things. I planted a special copper beech tree on my property two years ago. Their growth is slow, as trees go, and it won't reach it's full potential in my lifetime. But when it does, there are few specimens who can rival it's majesty. I have to trust that whomever occupies my space next will hold this tree in esteem as well and spare it. If they do, they'll be rewarded. It's about trusting in the future and leaving behind something of value.

Thank you for the all the advice, I really appreciate it! The city really gives no helpful information at all, just the list. I will have a look at some more pictures of the suggested trees. I was surprised when the city said they were planting a tree, as the "patch of green" is quite small. I was originally thinking of planting something smaller but so much for that idea. @ken_adrian LOL I'll have a look at the Kentucky Coffee Tree, might be nice to have a bit of the south here in the winter! @SC77, we have to choose from the list and the city plants the tree @smivees thanks for narrowing down the list for me! I don't know many of the trees so I will have a look/read on them. I do love the fall foliage of the black gum. @longtee81 my first thought was a gingko, so I'm glad you suggested that. I have to confess that I started thinking about the other trees because I prefer trees that turn red in the fall. What do you think of the Katsura? I am not too sure of the quality of the soil as we just moved in and there is mostly grass. I haven't done any gardening yet. If it is like our old home in the neighbourhood, I actually found it a bit sandy. There seems to be ok drainage, though there is a driveway and a sidewalk surrounding the planting site. I will take a picture tomorrow of the front yard. It's east facing. Thanks again!

I live in the subburbs of a small city where everyone has the green green manicured lawns and everyone's keeping up with the Jones'. I once mentioned I'd like a more naturalized front yard like the one I had at my previous home and the neighbours told me straight out that it would "ruin the look of the neighbourhood". I really don't care what they think but at the time we had just moved here and I didn't want to start something with them upon just meeting them. To remedy this I made a 9' x 9' kidney shaped garden on my front lawn down near the sidewalk and each year by some strange occurance, that kidney shaped garden just keeps getting bigger and bigger. This hasn't escaped the notice of my bossy neighbours though... they didn't see my early morning digging in the garden and I skillfully smoothed the mulch over the enlarged portion so that it was not noticable but they still came to my house to ask if I had made the garden larger. *sigh*. Never the less, the kidney shape is more like 12' x 12' now and is taking up most of my postage sized piece of front lawn. We also have a sidewalk on our side of the street that cuts through our lawn and makes a grassy boullevard next to the street. I'd like to plant the boullevard but come to find the city only allows boullevard plantings that are in keeping with the desires of the city. You must petition the city for any single plant you want to place on a boullevard and the city is at liberty of veto'ing your requests. The greatest IRONY in all of this is that our subdivision is built INSIDE an old farm woodlot! Everyone in this neighborhood has woods in their backyards and to me it only makes sense to start replacing all the trees that were bulldozed down in order to make the streets and building lots. My next door neighbor's comment to me when I said I'd like to naturalize my front lawn was "Ewwwww! That would look awful!!! Trees belong in the WOODS!" I just shook my head and walked away. No offense to any true blondes reading this but I believe that my neighbor who said that was having one of the TRUELY GREAT BLONDE MOMENTS IN HISTORY. *double sigh* In all honesty, I don't want to be the neighbourhood pariah. I looked at the photo gallery at "Lose the Lawn" and still wonder how those people (gorgeous naturalized properties BTW) deal with their neighbours. I don't care really what they feel about naturalized "looks" of a property but I also don't want to make enemies with my neighbours either. I think by building the natural look slowly, I'm fueling the fire a bit less but it really is hard to keep everyone happy when you are trying to do a good thing like naturalizing your property when you live in a subburban setting where everyone else has the perfect cookie cutter lawns and ornamental shrubs. I guess one other problem I have is that my front lawn is attached directly to my neighbour's front lawn because our driveways are each on the far left and far right of both properties. It 'does' look odd to have an almost full grass lawn butting up against a more naturalized lawn. I'm curious how others create their naturalized front lawns despite the neighbours' views. Barb southern Ontario, CANADA

Have you visited a garden center to see what they offer? For a front entry garden, you want something evergreen to give it some life in winter. Perhaps a dwarf abelia or two flanked by a compact Hydrangea paniculata. Other possibilities include boxwood or low growing junipers (boring!!) or a boxleaf euonymus. More choices with deciduous shrubs - spiraea, potentilla, ninebark, weigela, etc.