If you don’t already have that evergreen up with lights twinkling and ornaments sparkling, it may be time to go find a tree!  But besides the shape of the evergreen, what do you need to look at when picking a tree?  Martha Stewart has the answer!

As you browse, flag favorites with a bandanna so that it will be easier to comparison shop. The first trees to get picked over tend to be the ones near the parking lot, so the farther reaches of a farm might offer a better selection. Leave a good stump on the tree you cut, and trim a half inch at home before putting it in water.

Great advice! Now get the saw and head out!

Sadly, the tree pictured is not a live tree, but the artificial one we have at our home.

Photo from dlouhan.

This is exactly why we call professionals when we have to have a big tree removed!

Happy weekend!

While the photo of the blue bottle tree first caught my attention, when I went to this site I was in awe over the stunning, gorgeous photos of people’s creativity in their yards.  Go to Flickriver immediately to view the stream of “Weird Yards and Gardens” !!

The photographer used a lacy tablecloth to wrap the tree.

Look at the close up!

We are limited only by our own imagination.  This has been proven by artists, composers, architects, and now… gardeners.  Actually the artist may be insulted for me to call him “gardener” but Marinus Boezem planted De Groene Kathedraal (The Green Cathedral) in 1987.  Today – with just four years to go to reach full growth – it’s stunning.  From Architizer Blog,

Yet, whereas at Reims, the plan is, in fact, the generator of complex primary and secondary geometry and structure, the Green Cathedral simply, if intentionally, embodies its diagrammatic nature. Inlaid stone marks the crossing of groin vaults on the ground, inscribing the lawn with the means of projection for the sky above. The trees, which will never converge to roof the nave below, will eventually die and rot, giving way to a vast field of trunks.

Stunning.  Click through to see all the photos!

From my front yard…

I saw my first flower of the spring last night in full bloom.  I want to call it a daffodil, but everyone else scientific calls it the trumpet narcissus.  It was dark as I rolled down the driveway so I couldn’t get a photo.  However, Nancy of Homemade Blessings gives us a photo journey around her yard from Sunday,

The kids have been having fun swinging in this hammock that we hung out between two of the trees – it seems more like a cocoon than a hammock! Here is Anna having a turn ~

A hammock is on my agenda this year.  Bravo and thank you Nancy!  First I’ll have to scout out a couple of trees where birds don’t constantly sit (and drop).  Perhaps I’ll find one with man-made tree trunks… a self-contained hammock.

Photo by mbtrama via Flickr Creative Commons.

How often do you get up early in the morning and walk around your neighborhood, your yard, or the meadows, hills, or countryside near your home?  Perhaps this will inspire you to venture out early one morning during this holiday season.  From rlhassociates, Wintertime Fog – Crunch Crunch Crunch,

Tucked between the rows of the green guardians of the hillside
Coal bucket size puffs of snow fall from the evergreens
Keeping us alert to the directions of the winds and
The forest floor underneath our winterized boots
The woods are quiet except for the crunch crunch crunch

Beautiful.  It’s time for me to go for a long, quiet walk.

Photo by Pavel Rybin via flickr creative commons.

Photo by dbezanson via flickr creative commons.