On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 11:33:46 -0500, Kid Proquo
wrote:

My mom's about to sell the house I was born in. I'm ok with the
separation anxiety issues....except for one thing.

My family moved into the house when my mother was pregnant with me. In
the process, they hired a sweet old Italian immigrant gardener to
transplant some bushes from their old garden. One day, as this guy did
one of many drives back and forth between the two properties, he spotted
a baby white pine growing along the side of the road. He said that he
felt that the pine called out to him and asked him to take it with him.
He fell in love with it. And he stopped the car and dug up the tree and
planted it in the new yard. And I was born immediately afterwards.

As a very small child, I was traumatized by an experience of being
pushed into a pine tree - the stiff needles stuck into my skin. It gave
me a fear of trees. But then someone introduced me to the white pine,
with its soft needles. And I fell in love with it.

We both grew up, the tree and I, and though i'm not terribly
superstitious or "woo woo" in any way, I've long had the feeling that
the tree has some level of consciousness and is aware of me. I only
heard the story of the gardener many years later, by the way. And
everyone else I've shown the tree has also fallen in love with it. It's
an amazing tree, what can I say?

The white pine is now quite tall and fully mature (I'm tall, too, though
a bit less mature). And I'm wondering: what do I do, the sale of the
house?

1. try to befriend the people who move in, so I get visitation rights

2. try to grow a branch from the tree somewhere else

3. get someone to transplant a very large and mature white pine.

I make good money, and could afford to dump $$$$ into extreme solution
#3....if it's even a practical option. I don't know anything about
trees, though. IS it practical? Is #2 practical? If so, can anyone offer
detailed advice (or point me to some)?

thanks!
Mack wrote in message ...
Does the pine have any cones? You could maybe start a new one from the
seeds in the cones?


I second the pine cone thought. I really do not think that one can
propagate a white pine tree from a cutting (a brief googling on white pine
propagation turned up only seedlings or trees). Maybe grafting it onto
another stock, but then you might ask

I had a similar issue where the house I grew up in had many trees that I
felt particularly close to, having spent lots of time up in them. When my
mom died and we had to sell the property I did get visitation rights (that I
use on occasion). (It was easy because we sold to a friend of my brother.)
I have found that I rarely use it anymore as I have moved on pretty much
now.

As for option #3, think of the tree. Would you want to take a real chance
of killing it just to keep it with you? I am speculating that you are at
least 20, likely more, and you indicated that the tree is the same as
whatever you are. This is a pretty old enough tree that moving it has real
risks.

I recommend learning how to create a new baby tree from the pine cones (It
has gotta be on the net via a bit of googling... you may need to heat the
cone or somesuch), and then do it for many cones so that one will actually
survive to grow to a stable reality.

Let us know what you decide to do, and good luck.
Tomes