Your next electric bill will tell you how expensive it is to use air conditioners. And while their cooling is welcome on a hot day, it can feel like an unnatural kind of cool compared to the delicious coolness of a forest.

We can't all live in a forest, but we can plant more trees and shrubs!

Here's what the US Dept. of Energy says about landscape shading:
Shading and evapotranspiration (the process by which a plant actively moves and releases water vapor) from trees can reduce surrounding air temperatures as much as 9°. Because cool air settles near the ground, air temperatures directly under trees can be as much as 25° cooler than air temperatures above nearby blacktop.

[Editor's note: On a recent hot day, the temperature in the sunny part of the yard in midday was 96° while in the shade of the coffee tree and shrubs (pictured above), it was a much cooler 85°. Because of the vegetation around the house, we haven't yet had to use the A/C!]

Ironically, just as the earth is warming, there seems to be more large trees being removed than planted. And if replaced, the replacements seem to be smallish, "decorative" trees, not trees that might take longer to mature, but which would be a legacy we could leave for future generations to enjoy.

"The true meaning
of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit."  

~ Nelson Henderson's
message to his son Wesley at his graduation

Plant native;
plant for the future!