One of our most cherished customs every Labor Day weekend is to go scour the nurseries for unsold baby trees on sale. In this way, we have planted at least a dozen trees and some bushes around our farmhouse and made sure the people who follow us have beauty and shade around the farmhouse.

The original farmers who built this house thought of us when they planted these beautiful maple trees that shade our farmhouse, so we are repaying their thoughtfulness.

I do understand that I am not likely to live long enough to see these trees grow up to their full beauty, but I loved setting out on this gorgeous day with Maria to score some great tree bargains, as we usually do.

At the Mettowee Valley Nursery in Dorset, Vt., we found the last two Water Birches in stock(we have seven of these in our back yard now) out in the nursery, and they were on sale. They are eight or nine feet tall and in beautiful condition.

They were $60 apiece, and I heard Maria gulp when I said let’s get two. With tax and all the bill was $145. I think that’s an amazing price for two healthy birch trees.

These trees are salt-resistant (from winter plowing), and grow rapidly. We got a couple four years ago and they are more than 25 feet high already. We’ll figure out where to plant them tomorrow.

The other thing Maria has led us both into is plant and tree rescue. (We rescued some succulents from a Petco six months ago. They live in the living room now.)

At this time of year, unsold and anemic trees are often left abandoned in nursery lots, the water is already turned off in many of these places. We saw this dying maple (below) in a nearby nursery and pulled in.

It was a wreck, I doubt anyone would buy it, it was heading for the trash heap.

I was determined to get this tree home and started intense negotiating.

Maria thought it had the potential to be a beautiful tree.

The sale price on the tree – it is so dry it might not be alive – was $120.  A lot of New York City people shop at this nursery in the summer, and the New York people think they are alot smarter than the farmers who sell things to them.

I’m sorry to break the news, but they are not. Some of the people selling trees and plants to the big city folk will tell you that since they know nothing of trees or plants, they can usually charge just about anything and get it.

The owner told me he sold scraggly Maple trees to city people all the time for $175, even $200.

I said this was ridiculous for a tree that was probably dead. But I knew he is closing up after the weekend and was desperate to get those anemic trees out of his nursery. The price dropped to $60 immediately, and I said to take $20 off and we’ll take it.

Maria gets very nervous when I negotiate, but this one riled me up, there was no way I was paying a lot of money for this sad tree and no way I wasn’t going to take it home.  Of course, when I said the tree was a wreck, she defended the tree: “no,” she said, “he’ll be okay.”

Later in the car, she turned to me and said, “you were just negotiating when you said the tree was dying, weren’t you?”  Yes, I said, I was negotiating, but I was also sincere. I do think the tree is dying, and I know better than to negotiate in front of Maria. She is way too nice to haggle.

On the other hand, she can climb trees and replace toilet seats. It really works.

When we got to $50,  which took about 10 seconds, I stopped arguing, and we brought the plant home.

I watered it for a long time, and you could almost hear the tree sucking up the water. I am learning to listen to trees and to talk to them.

We’ll plant the Red Tree in front of the house tomorrow, I like naming in for Red. I am going to take great care of this tree, Maria thinks we can bring it back to life.

I think it will be happy out in front of the house, we have three other maples and a new Sycamore out there, and if the tree lives, in a few years the farmhouse will be completely ringed with trees for shade and privacy and beauty.

This is one of my favorite traditions in our marriage. Between our trees and Maria’s gardens, the farmhouse is shining with life.

Winter will be here soon enough, we are working hard (yes, an oxymoron) to relax this weekend. Maria is in her studio cranking out some new potholders and I’m plotting some photographs.

We’re going out to dinner tonight at Jean’s Place, they are serving fresh whole belly clams, one of my favorite foods.

The weekend is off to a beautiful start. So far, no one has called me a war criminal, animal abuser, thief or liar. Nobody has even lectured me about being nier.

We called ahead they’re saving one for me. Tomorrow, oatmeal pancakes for breakfast and New Tree Day at the farm.