Nothing is more appealing than a carefully crafted circular bench surrounding a gorgeous full tree. It's the perfect place for enjoying a good book while the kids play nearby. Or if you do a great deal of outdoor entertaining, tree benches easily provide additional seating.

How cool would it be when you need a couple apples for the kid's lunchbox to just head out the back door and pick them fresh off the tree? While fruit trees aren't completely maintenance free, the pay-off is the convenience of being able to get fresh fruit in your yard with a healthy mini orchard.

One of the joys of spring in the city is the explosion of greenery provided by the surrounding trees awakening from their long winter sleep. In Kansas City where concrete, glass and steel seem to take center stage during the colder months, the urban parks and tree-lined streets are definitely one of the best perks of big city living once the weather turns warm.

As our overall population continues to grow, more housing, manufacturing, and retail space becomes necessary. This results towering skyscrapers, acres of paved infrastructure, and the deforestation of trees and other beneficial greenery. Yet many people wonder, can trees remove pollution from cities and urban centers?

Generally the first thing homeowners do after a major storm is head outside and access the damage to surrounding trees and shrubs. By familiarizing yourself with different types of storm damage, you'll be able to determine if you can repair the tree yourself or if an expert tree care specialist needs to be called in.

After a particularly devastating spring storm tree damage is not unusual. Many times the visual damage is so severe it is difficult to determine if the damaged tree can survive without calling in a tree care professional. Fortunately, most trees are extremely resilient and can take a great deal of abuse.

This time of year is notorious for surprise storms that cause not only downed limbs and branches, but sometimes an entire tree. Not sure what to do with storm damaged trees? Why not make Mother Earth happy and turn that wood into something useful and beautiful? Here's a few things you can do with your downed branches and trees:

Dead branches stick out like a sore thumb this time of the year. Trees are no longer dormant, and it's easy to see among the leaves which branches need to be removed. While it's tempting to save a few bucks and do the job yourself, large tree limb removal is often a very dangerous job and should be left to professionals with removal experience and the correct equipment.

Now that spring is here you're probably spending most of your free time out in the yard working on the garden, planting gorgeous blooming flowers and possibly even considering adding a couple new trees. Once you try it, you'll find that when you plant a healthy tree in your home's yard, you'll see how much things change.