A Few Ideas for Giving Trees as Gifts

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Pink dogwoods not only add color to your yard, they provide shade for a relaxing turn in a swing. Toni Leland

Finding a truly lasting and meaningful gift for a loved one in our consumption-driven world can be a challenge. Does your youngster really need that latest piece of plastic junk? Does the man who has everything really need one more something? This year, give a gift that will honor the recipient for years – a living tree.

Trees make beautiful and enduring gifts that keep the joy growing long after chocolates have melted and flowers have wilted. A tree can be a symbolic gift for a milestone occasion such as a child’s birth, a new home, or an important birthday or anniversary. Donating to a reforestation program to plant a tree in someone’s honor is also a thoughtful and meaningful way to memorialize a loved one.

Trees may well be the ultimate in green giving; they are sustainable, recyclable and biodegradable, and they have a negative carbon footprint. Trees improve air quality, capture storm-water runoff, and provide shade to reduce energy costs. They absorb noise and reduce stress, and they even have been shown to boost the economy. A living tree more than offsets the environmental impact of packaging and wrapping paper associated with more traditional gifts. From a personal and practical point of view, a tree makes the ideal gift – even for someone who doesn’t have a backyard.

Selecting the perfect tree

Fruit trees, such as apple, pear, apricot or lemon, provide an additional bonus in the form of delicious homegrown fruit. Adventurous friends and relatives might enjoy something more exotic, such as guava, pawpaw, or the South American cherimoya, a custard apple that gives thin-skinned, soft fruit with a sweet pineapple-banana flavor. If a larger tree is impractical due to space limitations, consider a dwarf version, which can be grown in a pot. Dwarf citrus will grow happily on a sunny patio or deck, as will many other varieties. Just remember that your beautiful gift will lose its appeal if it withers at the first frost, so make sure to choose an appropriate tree for the recipient’s location.

If good looks are your thing, try giving a flowering tree to provide seasonal color to a backyard. Consider a vibrant pink dogwood, a weeping cherry that looks like a spring snowfall, or a stunning gold Tulip Poplar. Other trees such as the Autumn Blaze Maple or the Autumn Purple Ash offer summer shade followed by a show-stopping display of fall foliage. Don’t forget that flowering trees eventually drop their blossoms, so consider the maintenance involved, especially if the new owner isn’t in good health.