Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The Great Christmas Tree Prop Up

Trees by the side of the street are a familiar scene in the post-Christmas season (that's mine, above). Once lavishly adorned and cherished during the holidays, these trees ultimately find themselves unceremoniously dumped outside to be collected by the city and chucked into wood chippers.

Some find themselves sharing roadside space with a neighbour.

Others languish next to their living cousins (an especially cruel way to get rid of a tree, don't you think?) I'm glad these Christmas trees brought holiday cheer to many. I'm glad they will be put to good use as mulch. But really, the sight of all these once-loved trees is a bit sad.

So, when I woke up one morning to find someone had propped up every discarded tree in the neighbourhood, I had to smile. With their trunks deep in the snow and their needles still green, there was no reason to believe these trees were done for.

For whatever reason, the tree pick up was delayed by a whole week. So, for a whole week all these trees stood tall, creating the impression that my street was the most coniferous-friendly street in the whole city. I hope someone else noticed how lovely it looked. I hope it inspires a few people to plant some evergreens (I know I will). At the very least, I won't dump my tree streetside again. Instead, I'll prop it up so that it can be enjoyed and appreciated for just a little while longer.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This made me smile as I read it, and saw the pictures of the propped up Christmas trees.
I love the look of conifers planted on front lawns up and down the street. They might nor be noticed on a summer day, but they create wonderful green and white snowy sculptures during the winter.

Connie said...

Great post, Irena! I guess we are on the same wavelength on this one. I am still enjoying my tree by the front door and it is regularly visited by the birds...mostly Juncos and Chickadees now.

Anonymous said...

This post made me smile. It is like the persons who every so often get in trouble for feeding parking meters that they aren't parked at so someone else doesn't get a ticket.

Good stuff.