It's a little hard to believe that this wonderful Festival of the Trees has now completed its third year with this edition! So many great hosts; so many great posts! Pete starts us off by making the case for keeping fruit trees of your own at his blog Summertime Fun. Mark has this pleasing report about his backyard bounties. Trees can shelter us as well as feed us as these houses in trees suggest. And sometimes we shelter them. Colin from Talk Gardening Online offers advice on how to plant and care for a fruit tree. Yet despite all of the bounty they can provide us, many sources may be lost. Sometimes you can find hot pink flowers on a cool green pine, as Nature Geek Northwest points out. And if you'd like to see more riotous pink, head over over to trees, if you please. For those of us in the northern hemisphere, winter is just a memory now, but have a look at these gorgeous winter trees and you'll feel the bracing chill again. This new blog doesn't have a lot of posts yet, but you can tell what this person loves over at Tree Flowers. With Ash out on the bike, you never know what trees might turn up. Sometimes when the words won't come, you can still use poetry to explore your feelings about trees, as Mather Schneider has done with Family Tree. The beauty of a tulip tree can deliver a lesson too, as Beverly at Murmuring Trees shares with us. And did you know that tulip trees can concentrate their sweetness into droplets? Elizabeth does. Eric has even more to say about tulip trees (plus some links) over at Neighborhood Nature. Maitri Bagh, Bhilai: Part 1. Granny J offers a pleasing gallery of gnarls & knots, showing that even when a tree is gone, it can still provide beauty and wonder. The wild date palms are part of the heaven that is western Crete, as Jeremy shows us in CWR heaven. Seabrooke shares her love of basswood trees in her post The bee-tree. And at Osage + Orange we can see the beauty of cottonwood seeds, blanketing the ground and drifting through the air. Learning to read the forest - Five common types. The oldest tree in Belgium speaks of endurance. Even entomologists are not immune from the wonder of trees, as Ted points out in his series of posts about the Trees of Lake Tahoe. From a Cabinet of Curiosities in the north east of England we learn that the only object in a forest that might be more valuable than a live tree is a dead tree. From the online journal The Clade, we have this evocative post about ponderosa pines. You'll wish you were there (unless you already are). The Divine Bunbun offers some advice about where you might want to park your car in Male Flowers at Prom Season. There are many characters in the blogosphere, and some of them are exceptional, but Mike of the 10,000 Birds blog introduces us to an Area of Exceptional Forest Character! When Google held a contest for school children to draw the logo, 90 of the 400 state finalist incorporated a tree in their drawings, as Vicky shares with us. The forest as monastery - Thai Forest Tradition. The forest as sharing - Whistling Wings. The forest as solace - Green Tangle. The forest as beauty - Green giants. The forest as hope - Stoney Moss. From the department of really-long-ladders come two posts that are hair raising and toe curling - Tree Surgery Part One and Part Two. Ever the meticulous woodsman, Beau over at Fox Haven Journal notes that sometimes it is necessary to take down a tree or two, and then he shows how it is done. And finally, Zilla points out that while it might sometimes be necessary to cut down a tree or two, it might also be necessary to leave a pair of pines for the benefit of the community. Many thanks for all of the great links, and thanks to all of you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Festival. Maybe you've found a few new blogs to visit regularly. Thanks, also, to my crackerjack web designer who did such a nifty job jazzing up the blog for this Festival. See you in three weeks, web designer! Next month the Festival of the Trees will be hosted by Vicky at TGAW. You can send her your links to vicky (at) tgaw (dot) com by June 28. Vicky is looking toward a theme for her edition: "For July's Festival of the Trees, I would love to receive submissions regarding 'survivor trees.' Trees that have survived great tragedies or remarkably harsh environments. Trees that have rebounded and found a way to thrive. Trees that have brought hope or comfort. Trees that inspire us in times of need."

Happy Birthday, Little Bear!

Missouri calendar:

• Turtles begin laying eggs.
• Lady's-slipper orchids bloom.

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