I happen to think you knew your daughter better than we. While you may not know much about trees...this is only tangentially about trees.

What favorites did she have? Colors, flowers, seasons. Do you have memories associated with places that had certain types of trees, parks, playgrounds.

By the way, name a plant and I'll find reasons why you'd be foolush to consider it, then I'll confuddle you and tell you why it is the only plant worth considering. But like I said...this is not primarily about the tree.

Dogwoods have an apocryphall story about shape and coloring of flowers.
Redbud is a harbinger of spring, one of the first signs of life and the promise of the new season to come.
Magnolia...little can compare with a magnolia in full bloom. Different kinds may have rich fragrance, incredible wax-like almost unreal coloring, evoking comparisons to paradise.

Sourwood is another possibility.

Whatever you choose, my condolences. And may the memories be cherished.

Two suggestions. I don't know your soil in Dallas, but I do know that you get more rain than we do here in Temple.

My favorite tree in my yard is my Desert Willow. Why?
1. The blooms longer than anything else and does attract the occasional hummer
2. Requires very little water. As getting a tree established is difficult if you aren't there to tend to it (watering cycle).

Secondly, I'm buying an Arroyo Sweetwood this weekend at my local Master Gardener Plant Sale. Read what Roselee has to say about hers in the Butterfly Forum. I can't envision a better image than a butterfly as your daughter has been transformed from how you knew her into how God sees her now. When the day comes, and it will, she could be the first person you'll recognize when your day comes. Having experienced this myself, I know that I know. And how beautiful it could be to have something that attracts the butterflies, and has a fragrance, too.

My suggestion goes farther. Make your own memorial. Don't plant just a tree, but a couple of "Everblooming" Lynn's Legacy Texas Cenizo. You'll have to hunt for it like I did. But, you can find it. I'd plant three in a semi arc around the tree. At the base, I'd put a sandblasted stone with whatever your most favorite saying or memory was. Be it an upright boulder or a horizontal flat rock. There are sooo many beautiful sayings. That might also be a beautiful place to put a bench, too. It will give you a place to go to be near her. God honors our efforts and recognizes our prayers. What a wonderful mother you must be to have been so blessed to have done right by her and raised her in the very best way you knew how. We don't come home with instruction manuals, but there's one that's been given to us that tops them all. May God lighten your load and ease your burden as he works toward lifting your pain.

In Him,
Xtal

i am always at a loss with these living memorials ... the plant dies .. you end up moving ... etc .... only creating more and more stress over the years ...

if it were me.. i would buy a poured concrete memorial ... an angel??? .. or something like that.. which would last for an eternity ... and would be portable ... should you have to move ...

and would attach all my memories to that ...

and then build a garden around it.. a garden which is an honor to the memorial.. but which is not 'forever' .. plants come and go over the years.. plagues.. pestilence.. etc ... i am sure you dont want to relive the loss of garden plant at a later date ...

i can not tell you how many times.. here in GW i have run across posts like this.. where the poster is distraught.. because some few years down the line.. the plant is failing ... and the wound is reopened ... and what are we left to suggest ... man its tough ...

soooo ... a cherub .. angel .. a harley davidson [dont know your sweetie well enough to be specific] ...

think about it .. i will offer a prayer for you ... and do take care ...

ken

Marko

One of my favorite trees is the Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry (Amelanchier). It's an airy tree that gets white flowers in early spring, then blue, edible berries (which birds love and people can eat them too) in early summer. In the fall, the tree turns scarlet. It's just a remarkable plant.