Circle to the right, circle to the left, do-si-do, and two steps down.  Or something.  One beech tree moved (again), hopefully this will be its final home.  A young volunteer copper beech, we decided that it would simply be too dark on the northwest lawn.  So it got shuffled to the tennis courts, where it will probably act more like a forest tree than a specimen tree, which is fine.  Then a disappointing Amur maple, having been given a prime location on the north lawn for several years and signally failing to merit the spot got moved.  That took a bit more excavating.  It looks like it ought to work better as an edge tree against some nice dark green confirs.  Of course, I swung it exactly 180 degrees, so it will probably hate me for some time….

Most of the time, one can move trees that are as tall as a person.  But not all.  A prime example of the Do Not move class is my white oak tree, which everyone has laughed at; it is finally beginning to grow on the Northwest lawn. I hope it takes off this year as that is the third try in that location.  The first two were bought trees with poor roots, this one was a volunteer from down under one of the big white oaks in the woods. Its top has good buds this year, and its top is as tall (all of 18 inches) as its taproot was long when I excavated it three springs ago.  At the time, its top was all of four inches tall.   There is a reason white oaks aren’t moved often….