The Three Tees Garden and the New Tree

I’m SO excited!

We just bought a new (replacement) tree for our Three Tees Garden – and it’s a beauty!

The Back Story

When we built our home in the country, we wanted to make sure our young boys had plenty of space to play and explore. There are many natural places on our property that have provided our boys with lots of exploration and adventure over the years. From the many acres of woods to play in with countless trees to climb, to a long creek that runs through the woods and feeds our large pond (a fun place to paddleboat). But we also wanted to make a “garden” for them. A place they could climb large rocks and sit in the shade of trees, planted just for them.

For this space, I designed a play garden for our boys that we call The Three Tees Garden (our boys’ names all start with the letter “T”). My Mom owned and operated a nursery and landscape business for many years. She helped me create The Three Tees Garden by providing a tree for each of our boys, as well as three tons of large outcropping rock to pile in the center of the garden for the boys to climb and play on. We made the garden a triangle shape (my favorite shape) with a circular flagstone path around the rock pile, and flagstone paths that radiate to the outside triangle and then lines the triangle shape itself. Each outside point of the triangle holds a tree for each of our boys, and the flagstone paths divide the space so each of our boys has equal space inside the triangle. Since this garden was placed in the open portion of our yard, the trees were there to provide shade. We filled this space with pea gravel for the boys to play in. My Mom also found unique plants for each of our boys, and they are planted at the base of each of the trees. For example. a Turtlehead plant (Chelone obliqua) for our son that loves frogs, toads, turtles, and snakes. A Money plant (Lunaria redeviva) for our son that has a great business mind. And a Smoke Bush (Continus) for our son who loves to tell stories and loves debating everything.

Our boys and their friends spent a lot of time playing in this area. It was a nice resting point between the house and the pond, as well as a place to sit in the shade. Our boys especially loved climbing on the rock pile in the center!

Several years ago, a tornado rolled through our area and blew down many of the trees in our woods, and sadly, the tree that belonged to our youngest son in the Three Tees Garden. This was especially sad for our family since the trees in that garden were given to our boys from my Mom, who is no longer with us. We’ve been wanting to replace that missing tree for awhile, and today was the day! While this new replacement tree is a different maple than the one my Mom selected, I know she would be pleased with the new tree.

You can see an overhead view of the triangle shaped Three Tees Garden in the image below (missing the one tree).

The New Tree

After doing some research to try to figure out a cool tree to plant, I decided on the Sienna Glen Maple. And I think in some way, my Mom guided me to this tree (thanks Mom!)

The Sienna Glen Maple isn’t very common, but it is a beautiful tree! It’s a natural hybrid tree that was originally found on an abandoned farmstead right here in Minnesota about 20-years ago or so – which in itself is also pretty cool. This tree has a broad pyramid shape when mature (my favorite shape – perfect for a triangle shaped garden), and it can withstand strong winds. The fine textured leaves are dark green with a silver underside in the Spring and Summer, and the leaves turn yellow and orange with a pinkish tinge at the highest part of the tree in the Fall. We were so lucky to find this tree available at a tree farm near us (see photo below).

Another cool tidbit is that the owner of the local tree farm where we bought this tree – knew my Mom! This tree farm actually supplied trees to my Mom’s nursery – how cool is that?!?! It was meant to be!

The Three Tees Garden Now

I realize our boys are too old now to “play” in the Three Tees Garden, but they still appreciate having their own trees, planted in their honor – I think everyone should have a tree planted for themselves. Our boys still like to sit on the outcropping stones in the shade of their trees when taking a break in the yard.

I know my Mom would be pleased to see a tree back in the missing triangle of the Three Trees Garden, and I know our youngest son appreciates having his own tree again.

Fall is a great time to plant a tree!!! Visit your local nursery and get planting!

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On a side note… I hope when people fly over our property, they smile at the various shapes of our yard: the triangle shaped Three Tees Garden; the crescent shaped Bird Garden; the circular firepit area; the rectangle Pool and Reflection Pond; the oval shaped Pond, etc. That would make me smile.