First up my little maple. This little fella is my favorite, but comes with a touch of heartache. I found it where he should not have been -- pressed up against the side of a house where he was assured to be weed-whacked. However, this trees continued existence is tenuous, still. I plan on building a relationship with a tree that will eventually make its way out of my urban neighborhood and onto my remote property further north. Unfortunately, my neighborhood is filled with invasive Norway maples, who I do not want to spread. This guy, I assumed, was a Norway maple as well. Its leaves are a bit torn from a hard start to its life, and I am not incredibly confident in my identification skills... But I have a sneaking suspicion that this one happens to actually be a sugar maple! I am going to let him continue to hang out until he gets some new growth on his leaves next year, and then I'll finally decide whether it stays or goes... I hope it's a sugar!
Next up is this little one. I found him while doing some weeding in my back yard. I'll be honest, I have no idea what he is! I think he might be an eastern red-cedar -- but that could be way off. Normally, I'm able to guess who is in my garden by what adult trees are in the area, but this little one must have been dropped by a bird. Either way, it'll have a spot to stay... at least until I find out whether he is a positive or negative in my environment. 
The littlest member of the porch pack is this wee little elm (I think). He almost got tossed while weeding. I just happened to have my phone handy and decided to see what he was before picking him, and I'm glad I did. 
In addition to my little potted friends on my porch, I have two bags of maples stratifying in my refrigerator, one of sugar maples and one of Japanese maples. I would love to sprout my own maple to use as my bonded tree through this candidacy year, but unfortunately I wont see the results of my stratification until the spring.
If anyone reading this has any guidance on growing any of these trees, I would appreciate any shared knowledge!
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