When we first moved to our current home several years ago, there were about six dead or dying pine trees between us and the railroad tracks. I liked the trees where they were as they provided some privacy for us from the train passengers and for all the foot traffic that use the tracks as a short cut. We had a bad storm about a year after we moved in and one of the trees blew over towards the tracks. Hubby contacted the railroad about the tree and in doing so discovered that we had an option to purchase the surplus land that lies between us and the railroad. We did this. I believe one of the reasons the railroad was so eager for the transaction to take place was that they would no longer be responsible for the trees! Shortly after the land purchase, we had the dead pine trees cut down. I was not thrilled about losing our privacy, but the trees were a fire hazard and also could have taken out our fence or part of our home if they had fallen the wrong way during a storm.
I wasn't paying that much attention to our new lot as I was busy with my three young children. One day I noticed that there was a lot of greenery below the fence line and thought I ought to check it out. I walked over and discovered several small oak trees growing there! One of our neighbors has a large oak tree on their property and thanks to the wind or maybe some squirrels, we now had a small grove of trees growing for free!
Fast forward several more years and we now have privacy again! There are now oak trees about twenty feet high along our fence line and providing privacy. I love looking out my bedroom windows into the sea of green leaves. It almost feels like being in a tree house. An added bonus is that the trees shade the South West portion of our house and provide cooling on hot summer days. When we finally get around to fencing in the lot and actually landscaping it a bit, we may need to move some of the trees. In the meantime our free trees are a wonderful addition to our home.
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