In the yard of my childhood home, which is the home of my great-grandparents, we had a magnificent pear tree.

The Morton Arboretum has some proud examples of the black locust tree (Robinia pseudoacacia). Nevertheless, invasive tendencies raise concern about future applications.

When we were new in our home I found a small maple tree growing in the narrow gangway between my house and my east neighbour.

Our favorite backyard red oak estimated to be 100 years old finally passed away to heart rot.

We were both city people. My husband and I grew up in New York and you had to take a substancial drive in order to really commune with nature.

Growing up on a farm, we had a few osage orange trees. Every year in the fall, the fruit would start to fall; they were the size of softballs and looked like brains.

My husband and I bought a home in Homer Glen, IL in 1997. Even though the home was 10 years old, none of the previous owners felt that adding trees was an important investment.

I grew up in Quincy, IL and when you reach the 4th grade, on Arbor Day, each child is presented with a tree to take home and plant in their family's yard.

In the fall of 1979, I proposed to my wife at Morton Arboretum. It was a beautiful warm fall Day with the trees in full color.

Although you would not see this very often anymore in the Chicago suburbs, I grew up with two apple trees in the parkway of my childhood home.

Buying our new home was as exciting as can be, and with that new home came the gift of a tree.

The memories are under the trees, split and open to the air like the fruit that fell from their branches every year.

While growing up, Christmas in my family, no matter how old I was, always entailed a night service at church, a ride home from church in the car with the whole family singing hymns, and sipping hot

My aunt used to visit annually at Christmas, and she, my mother, my sister, and I would pile up in our Ford Fairlane station wagon and cruise the streets at night during her visit in search of Chri

I AM A MAPLE TREE. 

There is a tree on the parkway next to our three-season farmer's market here in Oak Park that means a lot to our family.

When I was five years old, my grandpa and I got a little twig in a paper cup from McDonald's on Earth Day.

For as long as I can remember, trees have been part of my life. As a child, I had countless hours climbing into the nearest tree, and staying there for hours.

"What is my path? How am I ever going to find it?"

The cornerstone of every successful childhood is a really amazing tree. For me, growing up in Naperville, it was the weeping willow across the yards behind my house.