One Person's Trash...

I am always amazed at what some people consider trash. A couple months ago I spotted a very large black and white matted and framed photo of a large tree propped up outside one of the apartments in my building. Every morning and evening I would walk by and think to myself how simple and pretty it was. A week passed, then a couple weeks and finally I noticed that there were also roughly 10-12 newspapers still in their plastic also propped up against that same apartment door. Apparently the occupants were either evicted or left in a hurry and didn't bother to clean out their apartment. The next day there were more items stacked up against the door. More framed artwork, although none as nice as the tree photo I had been admiring from afar. So, that night when I came home with the boys, I brought the picture inside with me. It sat inside propped up against my door for another week or so. Then I decided its perfect home would be at my office which ironically is a landscape nursery where we sell very large mature specimen trees. It was as if this piece of art was destined to be mine. It now hangs proudly in our office where at least daily we get a compliment on how nice it is.
Today I had a similar experience, except this time it was much more blatant. With the frame I had some doubt initially if it was really 'trash'. Perhaps the owners forgot it in their move and would be coming back for it any day. After 2 1/2 weeks I thought not. But when someone either throws something in a dumpster or props it beside one I call that fair game.

Please meet my newest treasure. To think it was one person's trash. I realize that Christmas and New Year's have come and gone and that now it is time to clean up and put away all the decorations for next year, but why on earth someone would throw away a perfectly good (and BEAUTIFUL) 3 1/2 foot poinsettia tree is beyond me. It needed a little TLC when I first brought it in the apartment. I pruned and deadheaded the brown leaves, took it out of its over-watered foil pot cover, and placed it lovingly in the sun just inside my patio all afternoon. I can practically feel the love this tree must have for me. It kind of makes me feel like Charlie Brown and his decrepit Christmas tree. Now all I need is a warm blue blanket to snuggle around its roots.

Before I receive dozens of comments warning me about the toxicity of poinsettias I will put all your fears at ease. Given that I worked in the landscape industry for 11+ years I have more than once had to forward a customer or homeowner lengthy articles which debunk the myth that poinsettias are toxic to children and pets. The scientific studies proved a 50 pound child would have to eat more than 500 to 600 leaves (1.25 pounds) to exceed the experimental doses which were still shown to be non-toxic. So, no worries about my kids eating the tree bare. The worst that could happen is they would get the pukes (after all, you feed someone 1.25 pounds of anything and they are going to get one heckuva a bellyache!).


As you can see, the boys really loved the new tree. Noah sat under the tree for over 20 minutes mimicking the sign for tree and then he proceeded to talk to it. He told it all about Dora and Diego's adventures. He especially seemed to be highlighting the ones that had to do with trees. I heard mention of animals that lived in the trees, birds that made nests in trees, fruit that came from trees, etc. Sam mostly liked peering at the leaves very closely as if to check and see if they were translucent. All in all we are very happy with the treasure we found right here in our own front yard. Apparently apartment living does have its perks!