LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - A retired postal worker has turned a milo field near Lincoln into a sanctuary for about 30 different varieties of trees.
Martin Sandin began planting trees on an acreage he bought east of Lincoln about 30 years ago, the Lincoln Journal Star reported . The field is now home to at least 1,000 trees.
The tree types found on Sandin’s land include tulip and cherry, plum, ash, white pine, Douglas fir, box elder and yellow wood, to name a few.
Sandin said he didn’t have any money to make the miniature forest, but he had ambition. His wife, Marialice Sandin, grew up in Minnesota and missed the shady comfort after moving to Nebraska.
Marialice Sandin supported her husband’s ambition and love for nature, which he developed while growing up on a farm. Martin Sandin spent hours looking through seed catalogs, deciding what to buy and where to plant.
“They were my storybooks, those catalogs,” he said. “I discovered so many different kinds of trees I had never heard of.”
Sandin spent the first year watering his trees with creek water. He eventually installed a well, and later bought a water tank to pull with a small farm tractor.
Most of Sandin’s trees were planted within the first four years. One year early on, he planted 200 trees, but placed them too close together. A decade later, he found 200 trees fighting for space.
Sandin has learned plenty about planting and tree varieties since then. But he said he’s finished with his project, because he’s nearing 86.
Sandin continues to enjoy his tree sanctuary, filled with the king maple, Norway maple, burr oak, wheat gum, sycamore and Ohio buckeye.
“I just wanted a good sample of every different kind of tree,” he said.
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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, http://www.journalstar.com
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