So my godmother passed on right out of cooking school, I graduated from cooking school, and instead of a funeral or anything like that she just wanted to have a ceremony on her farm and we planted

I would call my story Wonderful Miraculous Cure.

My tree story is going to be about the Tanyosho pine.

My story is about the autumn blaze maple. Almost two years ago my father-in-law passed away after complications, after a surgery.

I grew up in Lansing, Illinois, a southeastern suburb of Chicago.  When I was two years old, we moved into a pre-World War II house with a double lot that had older, established trees and a pa

Growing up we had more than one horse chestnut tree around our block on the northwest side of Chicago. As kids, we liked to collect the chestnuts when they fell in their prickly green covers.

Years ago, before I knew that Bradford pear trees were not long lasting, I planted one in my front yard.

When my parents were married in 1955, they didn't have a lot of money.

In no time we were in love with the backyard. Of all the exciting new things about moving to Downers Grove and having our first single-family house, we were continually drawn to the backyard.

Our son Artie, who was three years old at the time, and I planted an acorn that I had found in our backyard. We protected it from mice and deer over the years and watched it grow.

Behind our backyard, through an opening in the prickly bushes, was an orchard.  At least that was what my mother called it when I was young, growing up in the Chicago suburbs.  It was ten

When I moved to the Glen Ellyn area over 40 years ago, my husband and I were delighted to discover the Morton Arboretum. It was nearby and a great place for hiking.

This tree lives in our backyard, standing sentry at the border between standard-issue carpet-grass lawn and a riot of fringe woodland that spills over from the cemetery behind us.Through 22 seasons

My parents moved onto their Tinley Park half-acre lot when I was two years old. Toward the center of the backyard was an old silver maple. Its trunk measured at least three feet in diameter.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

----Robert Frost

How do you find the perfect tree to honor a young, beautiful life taken too soon? The answer is: the tree finds you!
 

Over the years my family has visited the Morton Arboretum for the beauty of the trees. The spring blossoms, the summer leaves, and the autumn colors.

It was at my first birthday party and my second.

Searching for property in 1977, the bur oak sealed the deal.