I don't usually make resolutions, but after reading all the good posts in this thread, I've made up my mind. I want it ALL! I no longer want to enjoy the holidays looking at a gaily decorated petroleum-based interpretation of a fir tree. I want the live green tree with the O2 mitigation. I want winter interest and shelter for the birds. So my Christmas gift/resolution to myself will be - a balled tree. Yeah, it'll cost a few bucks, but for the next 30+ years (I plan on living a loooong time ;-)), imagine how nice the whole place is going to look when they are planted, and how much the wildlife will appreciate them. Unless someone can suggest a better way to go, here is my plan (I've never had a balled tree before, so save me from myself if I'm off base). I'll buy it in November, tub it on the deck, decorate it there with lights and strings of popcorn and fruit and I (and the critters) can enjoy it for the holidays. Then, after the festivities, drag it over to a pre-dug hole, plant it, and voila! If I get one small enough I think I could handle it (root balls are heavy!). At least I have a year to get any kinks out of this plan. Kris (already thinking about she's gonna do with her next Christmas tree....)

Not sure if you are still looking, but here is what I have in my backyard in Richmond (basically old Katy Plains): 1) Cara Cara Orange - 2) Navel Orange - 3) Dwarf Meyer Lemon - 4) Alberquina Olive: 5) Ruby Red Grapefruit - 6) Clementine Tangerine - 7) 2 Persian Limes: I am struggling with these Persian Limes. The top one I had to move since where I first placed it had too much water. I expect that is the reason it did not bloom this year. The bottom one, I grew that from a seed from a Persian lime my father gave me from his tree. It did bloom this year, but only a single bloom. I hope both will do better next year. I also have a Fuji Apple tree that is struggling as well. I have never had good luck with Apple trees in Texas. I have 3 finger lime trees also growing. One in ground and the other two in pots in different locations. They seem to be doing well. All these trees have been in the ground since 2016. The cold snaps we had in 2017 did do a number on all these trees (major leaf drop, but no damage to trunk or branches), but they bounced back well. Here is a list of others I know grow well in Texas: 1) Loquat Trees - These are great trees that do very well here. They shed a lot so be aware. I even like the tangy fruit. Great to make preserves. 2) Key Limes 3) Figs - Many varieties grow well here 4) Peaches - I grew a Dr. Davis peach tree from seedling to 20 foot producing tree at my old house in less than 8 years! 5) Blackberry bushes. You cannot kill these. I would recommend getting a thornless one though. Now here is the list of Trees or bushes that I have had zero luck with. 1) Avocado Trees - I have planted 3 of these (Bacon and cold hardy Hass)... All have died. Browning occurs every time. I have tried multiple soil locations. No luck. 2) Apple Trees - Again, I have had no luck with apples. My Fuji looks like it is dying and I have tried Dorsett apples as well. I had better luck with the Dorsett but it never really grew much. I did get a couple of harvests, but they were small. Really good though. 3) Blueberry bushes. This disappoints me because these are my son's favorites. I ordered this online and it arrived with ants in it. I tried to clean them out, but I think I shocked it so much that it just died. I do think they can do well here, but I have not had any luck. Upcoming projects: Raised vegetable garden. Adding these trees/Bushes around that garden: Thornless Blackberry bush. Rabiteye Climax Blueberry, Miracle Berry, 2 Dr. Davis Peaches, Fuzzy Kiwi, Star Cherry, and a Santa Rosa Plum.

Waas, trees aren’t the only plants that make life possible lol. Plus, grasslands are typically more “species rich” (biodiverse) than temperate forests and on some scales even beat tropical rainforests in plant diversity! Couple that hat with the fact that grasses are more resilient to climate change since they are more drought tolerant and fire resistant than trees and they are better at sequestering carbon because most of it is stored underground in their massive root systems rather than in huge above ground trunks, stems, and leaves. Have I made a prairie convert of anyone yet ;). To to be fair, while I gree up out here on the prairie and I have a special fondness for it, it’s only my second favorite ecosystem. If I had the opportunity to move back down to the low desert in southern Arizona I would be out of here in a heartbeat. The Madrean Sky Islands south of Tucson is my favorite place on the planet. You go from low desert-grassland populated by scrubby, green barked palo verdes and towering saguaros up in elevation through mesquite bosqes and into subtropical and montane forests of sycamores, oaks and conifers. If you’re lucky you might even catch a glimpse of a jaguar. I don’t know if it was the blazing desert sun or what, but the forests there seemed much brighter and less closed in than other forests. The rugged basin and range of the Sonoran desert just west of there is equally as beautiful with is craggly, weathered mountains where agaves, ocotillo, and organ pipe cactus thrive. Then there’s the Mojave desert and it’s savannahs of Joshua trees. If there is one place on this earth I live above all others it’s the desert.

When we lived down in Texas City years ago, I was given a Vitex seedling by a co-worker. She said hers dropped seedlings everywhere and she was always having to dig them up to give away or discard. The plant was 1' tall when she gave it to me. It was probably 15' tall by the time we sold that house, well above the 6' decorative fence piece it was planted in front of. It bloomed prolifically every year after the first. Never once did it drop a seedling underneath it that I can recall. As I, too, always heard they are invasive, I have always wondered if some are indeed invasive but some are NOT. Perhaps there are male and female Vitex? Or perhaps just some Vitex cultivars in the species are invasive? The Vitex tree already planted by the former owner in my current yard has never dropped a seedling either in the 5 years we've lived here. It's in a large bed that is never mowed or weed-whacked, so I'd sure see them if it were creating babies.