"When coming back, this week, from Myrtle beach, I spotted several trees that were leafless but had beautiful light blue to lavender flowers on them. The trees were about the size of dogwoods, or a little larger, but were more upright in manner rather than spreading...I would very much love an identification of this tree." - JAB

Most probably this person has seen Royal paulownia or princesstree. We are in the middle of the tree's peak blooming season along the Eastern Seaboard. More on Royal paulownia: Royal Paulownia - 100 Most Common North American Trees

_{Royal Paulownia - Virginia Tech Dendrology}

You need to fertilize trees and shrubs to insure their good health which prepares them to fight off pests, disease, and environmental stresses. A proper fertilization program can't solve all tree problems and over fertilization can do harm. Still, tree fertilizing at the appropriate time and with the appropriate formulation will help your tree(s).

Ideally, growing trees should be fertilized throughout the year. The greatest amounts should be applied during the early spring and summer months. Right now is an excellent time to fertilize trees.

For young trees, good times to put out fertilizer is late March through early June, and while you are at it, proper mulching will aid in proper nutrient and water uptake. When a tree reaches the desired height you may decrease the fertilizer application to only once a year.

• Do I really need to mulch my new tree?

The Wildfire Tragedy Site - Steve Nix Photo Licensed to About.com

Tragically,  28,480 acres burned in 2 national forests.  Sixty-three homes were destroyed and six firefighters were killed over the next ten days. One of those homes was the historic "Zane Gray cabin". The Payson museum has a wealth of information on the fire, displays a firefighter tribute for those who lost their lives on local wildfires and has recreated the Zane Gray Cabin.

I have created a blow by blow description of one of the worst forest fires in United States history.  I include personal pictures of the Dude Fire within the fire's boundary today and provide links to other U.S. wildfire disasters.

The Dude Fire Under Mogollon Rim North of Payson, Arizona

World Forests - FAO Illustration

Forests cover some 3.9 billion hectares (or 9.6 billion acres) which is approximately 30% of the World's land surface. FAO estimates that around 13 million hectares of forests were converted to other uses or lost through natural causes annually between 2000 and 2010. Their estimated annual rate of forest area increase was 5 million hectares.

Here are Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FOA) maps of significant forest cover on all continents of the World. These forest land maps have been constructed based on data FOA data.