thistletoes wrote:

I don't have enough time left in my life to mess around with foot tall trees.

Then you shouldn't even consider mail order trees. If you're a
middle aged person you need to go to a local nursery and purchase
substantially sized trees; balled and burlaped and a minimum of 3"
caliper... and even then it's unlikely you'll live long enough to sit
in the shade of any type of sapling tree, even those that are fast
growing will need nearly 20 years before they look much like a shade
tree... the first 3-4 years they won't exhibit any growth. The truth
is that when you plant a tree it's for future generations, not for
you... your enjoyment can only be in knowing that future generations
will enjoy the fruits of you labor. Maybe you would do better
planting a perennial garden.

I planted many mail order trees and quite a few larger trees from a
local nursery (in fact they were much too large for me to plant, the
nursery sent a crew with heavy equipment to plant them). I realize
that my main enjoyment is in that they lived and will one day be a
tree, but long after I'm gone. Even the fastest grower, a sycamore,
will need many more years before it begins to look representive of
it's mature state. The sycamore was a bareroot from Nature Hills, was
a three foot tall twig in a carboard box when it arrived, now it's
nine feet tall, but has many years to go. I ordered a second one the
next year, it's trying to catch up.

Second summer: http://i18.tinypic.com/54knpli.jpg

Third summer (last year): http://i19.tinypic.com/4xx0aad.jpg

Fourth summer (this year): http://i12.tinypic.com/4p13cpx.jpg