Having lived for nearly thirty years in central Denver, and being a new citizen of Lakewood, I was unfamiliar with the cotton in the cottonwood. I mean, I knew about it; I just didn't KNOW about it. So this is what, the fifteenth or so day the cottonwoods have let go of their cotton? Parts of my garden look like snow has fallen, and I sure don't want to be reminded of falling snow after this winter! And I was not surprised when a call came in on the garden hotline from someone wanting to spray or do something to stop it.

A combination of factors causes these trees to produce abundant seed. Sometimes large seed production is a reaction to stress (drought), while other times it is caused by favorable moisture. My best guess would be the moisture this winter and spring.

The cottonwood at first glance and without proper study, can easily be dismissed as a "trash tree." It has some personal habits that the urban homeowner can find extremely irritating. Like the male catkins that fall early in the spring looking a little like hundreds of wooly worms on the ground. And the sticky pods that fall after that and stain your pants. Then the female lets loose with this cotton that we are experiencing this year; and because it self-prunes, there are always twigs and dead leaves beneath the tree.

The cottonwood, however, deserves our respect because of its place in history. I think a very good case could be made for us not even being here without the cottonwood. It provided the European settlers shade, wood for their cabins and coffins, a place to camp for the night; native people additionally used the inner bark for women's skirts; the Mexican and Spanish people of the Southwest used it for fuel, its life-saving shade and its roots for carving religious icons.

The rustle of the leaves of the cottonwood can remind you of lapping or rushing water. And last fall right here in the wilds of north Lakewood, a group of vultures migrating, roosted overnight in the neighbor's cottonwood wowing us all with the sight of those great dark birds perched in the tree.

There are a lot of them in north Lakewood (cottonwoods, not vultures), partly because of the irrigation ditches that continue to meander through parts of Jefferson County from a throw back time when this was farmland. And as the cottonwood chooses its own spots and it grows all along them . I like to think that they are relatives of the ones the Arapaho Chiefs Little Raven and Left Hand shaded themselves under long before Denver began, when they camped along Cherry Creek near its junction with the South Platte.

So in answer to that question, what can I do about the cotton from the cottonwood? Well, nothing, short of cutting all the trees; or spraying every tree every year with a growth regulator. I would instead like to propose a new reverence for this tree; an understanding that the benefits outweigh its trashiness. Birds call it their home: the woodpeckers, the owls, the grackles, the magpies; and it continues to offer us life saving shade and the lovely sound of water when the wind blows. And perhaps we should ponder whether our lives have to be so tidy that we don't allow some messiness to interfere? the benefits outweigh its trashiness. The birds call it their home: the woodpeckers, the owls, the grackles, the magpies; and it continues to offer us life saving shade and the lovely sound of water when the wind blows. And perhaps we should ponder whether our lives have to be so tidy that we don't allow some messiness to interfere?

the benefits outweigh its trashiness. The birds that call it their home: the woodpeckers, the owls, the grackles, the magpies; and it continues to offer us life saving shade and the lovely sound of water when the wind blows. And perhaps we should ponder whether our lives have to be so tidy that we don't allow some messiness to interfere?

the benefits outweigh its trashiness. The birds that call it their home: the woodpeckers, the owls, the grackles, the magpies; and it continues to offer us life saving shade and the lovely sound of water when the wind blows. And perhaps we should ponder whether our lives have to be so tidy that we don't allow some messiness to interfere?

the benefits outweigh its trashiness. The birds that call it their home: the woodpeckers, the owls, the grackles, the magpies; and it continues to offer us life saving shade and the lovely sound of water when the wind blows. And perhaps we should ponder whether our lives have to be so tidy that we don't allow some messiness to interfere?

I say, consider that cottonwood an embarrassing old aunt of a tree. She dresses all wrong, talks too loudly, but has a heart of gold. Her skirts are too short, she gets drunk at Thanksgiving dinner, but she will give you her last dime and a bed on her couch for as long as you need it. She deserves your love!