• Wax Myrtle (Myrica cerifera) also know as Southern Bayberry, has been used to make candles by boiling the waxy covering off of the fruit.



• Hackberry, the common name of one of our native trees, derived its name from a Scottish word for Cherry meaning "Hagberry".



• White Mulberry (Morus alba) foliage is a major food source for silk worms.



• Pieces of horse apple, the fruit of the Bois d'Arc (Maclura pomifera), placed around your house will repel roaches.



• A medicinal extract distilled from the bark and twigs of Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is used as a skin astringent.



• According to "American Forest", each man, woman and child would need to plant 30 young trees each year to "pay their carbon dioxide debt"! (i.e., the amount emitted annually
)


• According to the Dallas Historic Tree Coalition (DHTC), each medium-sized existing tree preserved (rather than cut down or removed) pays a person's "carbon dioxide debt" for numerous years.

• The pine cones of the Coulter Pine, Pinus coulteri, can weigh as much as 6 lbs. when green.



• Native Americans used the wood of Slippery Elm, Ulmas rubra, for tomahawk handles.



• The root water of Water Tupelo, Nyssa aquatic, is spongy and therefore is used locally for bottle corks.



• During revolutionary times the wood of Black Willow, Salix nigra, was used to make a high grade of charcoal for gunpowder.



• Gum can be made from mixing the sap of Sweetgum, Liquidambar styraciflua, and the fruit of Stretchberry, Forrestiera lingustrina.

• Ginko is the only species of its family worldwide.



• Eastern Larch wood is used for dog sled runners.



• Radiata Pine is the most widely planted tree in the world.



• Bald Cypress is referred to as wood eternal because of the heartwood's resistance to decay.



• Cedar Elm is resistant to Dutch Elm disease.

• The Quaking Aspen has the widest range of any tree species in North America.  Its range extends from Alaska to Mexico.



• The limbs of the Limber Pine, found throughout the Rocky Mountains, can be tied in knots.



• Pecan is the state tree of Texas.



• Eastern Redbud is also called Judas tree, on which it was said, Judas hanged himself.



• Kentucky Coffeetree seeds were once used as a coffee substitute.  However, if eaten raw, the seeds are poisonous.



• The bark and leaves of Hercules Club (also known as the "Toothache" tree) were used by native Americans as an anesthetic.

• Before planting, prune live branches to balance crow with roots - Fiction:  Live branches and foliage produce food for the tree.  Removal of any live foliage reduces the trees ability to produce food.



• Lots of mulch is good - Fiction:  Two to three inches of mulch is good, but when roots start growing into deep mulch the roots could be injured on hot dry days.  Also, too much mulch can smother roots.



• After planting, brace the tree tightly - Fiction:  When trees are planted, if they must be braced, then brace them loosely so that they can sway.



• Prune living & dead branches flush with the trunk - Fiction:  By cutting branches flush with the main stem it removes those tissues designed to close over the wound.  Prune branches at the "branch collar."



• Clean cavities deep into sound wood - Fiction:  When cavities are cleaned down to sound wood it removes those boundaries designed to protect the tree which allows decay to spread rapidly.



• Climbing spikes do injure living trees - Fact



• Ants speed up the decay process - Fiction:  Ants do not feed on live tissue in the tree, they primarily live there.  They keep a clean nest which slows down the decay process.



• Lots of soil amendments are good in a planting site - Fiction:  Amendments should be avoided and are not needed in good soil.  (Do not amend soil when planting trees).

The ultimate solar machine runs on solar energy, soil, water, air and love.

• The ultimate solar machine runs on polluted air and gives back clean air.  It is a living, breathing air conditioner.





• One acre of these machines can remove approximately 3.7 tons of sulfur-dioxide from the air each year.





• The same acre can remove nearly 12.9 tons of dust from the air each year.  440 yards of forested green space can remove 80% of the airborne particle smog.  One acre absorbs the carbon dioxide from approximately 50 cars, as well as the polluting ozone from 8 cars.





• The ultimate solar machine builds healthy soils and helps prevent erosion.





• The ultimate solar machine is a clean water machine - it purifies water for free.





• It is completely biodegradable.  In the process, one large machine can be converted to the energy equivalent of 2 - 12 barrels of oil.





• The ultimate solar machine can heat your home, or cool it.  It is the equivalent of 9 air conditioners running all day.  Green belts as narrow as 165-300 feet can reduce summer temperatures by 40º F compared with the city center.  Pavement and rooftops reflect 30% of solar heat into the air.  These machines absorb all but 5%, converting it into usable wood.





• Many ultimate solar machines (fruit & nut trees) will even feed you.  On a large scale, they require less fertilizer and keep the soil healthier than any other crop.





• The ultimate solar machine replaces its own worn out parts and has a lifetime guarantee.  The ultimate solar machine may last for 2000 to 4000 years.





• It is of course a tree!!

• One tree is saved for every 4 foot stack of newspaper recycled.



• If everyone in the U.S. recycled the Sunday paper, we could save 500,000 trees each week.



• Recycling a ton of paper saves 17 trees and 3 cubic yards of landfill space.



• A recent survey of realtors located in 10 different states, shows that more than 1/2 of them thought trees had a positive impact on potential buyers' impressions of both a home and a neighborhood.  A whopping 84% felt that a home with trees would be as much as 20% more sellable than a home without.