Need Trees? Lots of Trees?! Try the Arbor Day Foundation!

Once you buy a pass to any national park, you will start getting some interesting mailers.  Greenpeace.  No thanks, their approach towards environmentalism by demonizing capitalism is kind of disturbing to me.  The Smithsonian Institute.  We subscribed to their magazine, a very interesting read.

We then received some literature from the Arbor Day Foundation.  We learned you can become a member for only $20.  Another $15 and we bought ten saplings, baby trees, that were proper for our region of the country.  They arrived inside a single plastic bag in the mail a few months later.  The instructions were kind of vague, but they're trees.  You plant them in the ground.  Though there were 5 different trees in our package, they were color-coded but there was no print out explaining what each color meant.  Only later did I find this link that explained on their website what the colors meant.

We paid for 10 trees but only 9 arrived in the package.  Despite these few flaws, I think these trees will be an excellent value.  I say I think, only because it's only been six months since we followed the directions and planted them -- just in time for winter to come.  I want to share this information because no one else I've spoken with knew they could get baby trees from a respectable source for such an excellent value. 

I found the Arbor Day Foundation website was a plethora of interesting information all things regarding trees.  We all know trees are important, they also help property values. Trees aren't just good for the environment, they enhance your yard.  They provide shade, they prevent the ground eroding, they also attract and provide shelter for all sorts of wildlife.  Not to knock your local tree nursery, but if you have the patience to wait 3 or 4 years to watch a small sapling grow into the pretty picture in the Arbor Day Foundation brochure, remember that you paid only about $3 for that tree which has matured to fetch $30, $50, maybe even over $100 for each 5 to 10 gallon tree it has grown into.

Try to get that kind of return on ANY investment!  From the perspective of a sound financial investment, investing in a membership and some trees from the Arbor Day Foundation outperforms any stock value or investment most people will ever see in their lifetime.  Provided you are willing to be patient and invest in some water and a little fertilizer.

If only making your investments in your 401K grow that quickly would be that easy, and that straight-forward.  The best part is you don't have to wait 30 years until you retire to enjoy the many tangible benefits each and everyday from owning trees that, unlike your investments, will continue to grow well into the future.