philosophy 101

I didn't know about 'Ents' before this. Very interesting. So I haven't been speaking 'entish' to the tree. I will read more about it and give it a try!

I know what you mean about needing to live with trees. Although I live in the city my old 1905 house is surrounded with trees. I have complete privacy in my upstairs bedroom because of the trees. I could not live in the desert!

When my DD was about 3 we had a place over in Easton. An 80 acre old farm. And the fields were flat and empty except for this one BIG old fir tree out in the middle of the pasture. Her and her bumpa wouls walk out there together every day we were there. We had horses and snowmobiles and it was really neat.

Jan that was a poignant story. I actually thought it was a little sad.

Patricia that is sweet. Trees do offer a lot of things - destinations included.

Okay for some reason all the letters on the bottom right won't work on my computer so I don't have "m", "commas", "period", or the "enter". I'm having to copy those from messages above and going back to insert them. It's always something!!

Jan, that is a bitter-sweet story. interesting that you remember it so clearly - it made a big impression on you.

I am sitting in bed with my laptop - too lazy to get up. There are 4 windows in my upstairs bedroom, and when the trees have their leaves I have a lot of privacy, even though I'm in the city. I have curtains on only the lower halves of the windows so it feels like I'm in a tree house.
Very peaceful.

Willow I bet your daughter remembers that tree.

Katie59 don't you just hate computer glitches!!!

I think I'd stay in bed all day if it felt like I lived in the trees. :)

My favorite tree at my folks was a Walnut (the variety with the small leaves). It was huge, many years old. And the leaves made a light shrring noise in the wind. The shade was dappled. Just perfect to take the heat off, but still very light. It had ceased to bear (which was fine with us because we had ceased to harvest), so it was perfect. I miss that tree.

Isn't it funny how trees have such an important spot in so many growing up memories?

I had forgotten about the Ents, but as soon as it was mentioned it all came rushing back! Lots of stories and myths tell us that trees have spirit and knowledge such as the Ents and Ellcrys. Easy to understand where these ideas come from.

Jan, Although I agree it is sad, I love your story. Very symbolic.

Judy, how wonderful to have a "treehouse" view if you live in the city!

Kathy...My husband can teach you how to fix your keyboard...he had your same problem so in a flash of brillance, he washed it. With soap and water. And ran it under the faucet to rinse it. Without taking it out of the laptop...... It didn't fix it mind you, but gave him motivation to get a new laptop!

Hahahahah. Julie, you'll forgive me if I don't take use his method. If I can't figure it out, I'll take it to my local PC magician. He fixed the keys when Allegro knocked the whole laptop onto the floor (70% of them popped off). I'm hoping he can fix this, too.

What about those majestic pines in the mountains when they have snow piled on their branches. And the 'whispering pines' when the wind moves through them. There is nothing prettier than a tall pine with big clumps of snow on all the branches. Now that is my favorite nature scene!

Hi all. Just wanted to say this is a wonderful thread. Thanks for sharing.

Dahlia, what do you most love about your trees? What kinds of trees do you have in your yard?

Judi, I love the whispering pines in the mountains! It is so peaceful to sit high on a hill and listen to the wind coming your direction...you can hear it from far away and watch as it crosses the trees.

I hope its ok to include shrubs too. My oldest trees and shrubs were planted through 1959 to 1965 I've been told by Anne, my luvly 93 year old neighbour. They are a mountain ash, white spruce, sutherland carragana, mayday, green ash and cottonyaster hedge. Between then up to the mid 1990s an ornamental fruit tree? (still need to ID it), a nanking cherry, and a currant were added. Then the previous owner Ken added a weeping carragana, a blue spruce and a mugo pine. Since 2001 I have put in a euonymous turkistanika (probably butchered the spelling), a 'halo' dogwood, and a 'Wine and Roses' weigula, a gold juniper, a dwarf forsythia, a dwarf lilac and a diablo ninebark. I also put in 4 'annual' cedars every year and this don't do well in our dry conditions. Woodys give me feeling of permanence and stablity in a world of constant change. Although I whine about too much shade sometimes, I think the trees bring me the most peace in the garden. Perhaps I luv them because they reflect and show the changing seasons in a slow and graceful way, and are homes for the birds.

That was a beautiful description - "they reflect and show the changing seasons in a slow and graceful way."

I'm a shrub-lover, too. There is so much variety and structure in them. And now you've given me some new tree names to look up. I've never heard of a carragana or a mayday.

hey - Dnut visits us here again!!!
Hope all is well up in your area & that you are out of the evening low temps.
Are you still dancing for weather-related purposes?

Shrubs - love them for the same reasons, but mostly because they are large - I want a sense of smallness for myself when i walk amongst them. Like seeing all these wonderful plants from a child's height perspective.
They provide great nesting for birds, leaves for composting in Autumn, "bones" & structure in Winter, and hope: off to sleep & reawaken again in spring. They also serve as a buffer for the perennials planted near them.

I once wrote a poem (and I'm not a poet) and the last line was "and you can hear the winter coming, howling through the trees" I got that line from standing out in front of the house a 11:00 waiting for the dog to piddle. It was that time of year and the wind was really blowing.

Dnut hello! And of course it's ok to talk about shrubs here. This thread is to talk about emotional responses or any philosophical association to our gardens, nature, plants, etc.

Talk about nature - the first thunder storm just rolled through here and now there are sirens everywhere. Lots of people without power, and here comes another round. I do like storms. A few years ago I was speaking at a conference in Denver and a big storm came in, right as I began. We were on a very high floor, and we all took a break to go to the windows to watch the lightening. Sure woke the group up!

We are now getting high winds and pollen cones all over from the fir trees. More junk to clean up.

Do you have to "clean it up"? I just let stuff like that lie -- more fun to kick through the grass with pine cones & "junk" in it.

Summerkid LOL I used to clean up everything but now - not so much. now I call it mulch.

Hi Kayte ^_^ Snow predicted tonight EEK! Thankfully I have not planted out my beluved dahlias yet. Still dancing and singing and mucking about with new garden adventures.

And our lawns don't stop growing until August. Mowing the lawn and spitting out those cones is downright dangerous!! :-)

I can't believe that you're going to have snow, Dnut. What@?#?$?

Kathy

SNOW!!! Oh that's just not fair! Sending warm thoughts your way.....

Dnut, YIKES!!! Gotcher longjohns ready? I will NOT complain about the 3 days of rain.... I will not complain....

This is supposed to be Joon Monsoon time here too not W*i*n*t*e*r Wonderland time sigh.

It has been raining on and off all day but it is quite pleasant. Not cold, and not too wet to take Koka out. We went to the tree today - forgot my camera as usual. I stood under the tree for a while since it was dry under there. As I looked closely at the trunk I saw two squirrels run up, and column of ants coming down, and a spider busy at work. I wonder how many other creatures live in that tree? Birds for sure. That tree is it's own little ecosystem. So interesting.

I think this is appropriate - Dan Hinkley's musings about the garden interspersed with his name-dropping recollections of his trip to Britain. What a life.

http://danielhinkley.com/

This message was edited Jun 7, 2009 9:04 PM

Katie thank you for that link - I had not seen that before. Good reading!

I went to take photos of The Tree today. I managed to snap a few before Koka saw a squirrel and took off at a run. I had the leash in my hand and it jerked really hard and I dropped my camera. Alas, my camera is now broken and since it is almost five years old I guess it's time to get a new one. Anyway, here is the one clear photo I have. I love this tree.

Definitely a fairy tree - it needs a door!! Thank goodness Koka is there to protect you fro those nasty squirrels :-)

I would want to touch it, too. It looks like an entrance by the crevass down toward the left. Maybe you should discuss a door with the owner. :) or just keep it a secret. Once word gets out that it is a fairy tree everyone will want to come and touch it.

That brought to mind the Salem Oak tree. In a neighboring town is an oak that has been around for a LOOONG time. It is one of the biggest oaks in the state. Through the years there has been damage from storms, but they keep it well maintained. Propped up and wired, the spreading limbs reach out to everyone. Lots of people have oaks now in their backyards from the acorns. Even decorative items have been made from limbs that had come down, raising money for its upkeep. It is the symbol for that town. It is located in a Friend's cemetery next to the public library.

There is a tree in the Cole Valley area in San Francisco where I used to live. The tree was damaged from lightening. The sculptor Jack Mealy carved an incredibly beautiful angel in the very tall trunk that was left. It's a little difficult to find but has become somewhat of a tourist attraction.

So my tree is a fairy tree! That makes perfect sense! I just can't pass it without touching it. I wonder if the others who walk here do the same. I wish I were younger and could climb that tree, to see what it sees. Do you think it's female? Male? I was never into the 'fairy door' stuff but now I'm beginning to see it.......

I was thinking about why we love to garden. Do we love the plants, or do we like to control our spaces? When I was younger and had lots of kids at home (there are 7) I went crazy trying to keep my house in order and neat. Now as I look back I see that it was my way of keeping some control in a busy, crazy, but fun household. Now there is a big surge in gardening interest, and I wonder if it is related to the turmoil in our world.

I've always described my gardening style as wild but tended. I know that Mother Nature is in charge; I just want her and others to know that I'm keeping house, as it were.

I think that people who carve their bushes into pods are missing the point and the beauty of the plants' natural shape. It has started to bother me so much that I've decided I would vote for a prohibition on shearing!! We should all consider this mutilations as serious stuff and be members of Plant Amnesty. Part of me wants to produce flyers and distribute them at all the "starter castles" that I drive by in the morning on the way to work.3

http://www.plantamnesty.org/home/index.aspx

You can make your own fairy door, which, is, imho, what the fairies need to properly identify their homes. I think they like home-made because they don't really understand "store bought".

Here are some neat designs . . .

http://www.miniature-gardens.com/fairy-doors.html

Kathy

katie, i'm with ya the wild gardening style ... mine is "a gardener used to live here but she disappeared, perhaps she's in there somewhere ...."

I detest those bushes-made-into-animals! And hedges cut severely and absolutely straight! I don't understand why people choose a plant and then carve it up.

The Big Tree belongs to someone else so I don't think I can put a fairy door there. I don't even know the people. I suppose I could make one and sneak over in the middle of the night and install it.

katie that site is great. Love it all. I really do have to get some fairies.

So what is it about fairies? I just got my first gnome and that was a total departure from my normal behavior! I always thought they were silly but now I love them. What about fairies and other diminutive beings cause normal adults to submit to their charms?

Oliver guarding the herb garden. The olive branch has long been a sign of offering peace, and I find my garden very peaceful and hope that others that come to my garden feel the same.

I think that spending time out in the garden and observing the magic of nature allows us to imagine things we don't have "proof" of. It makes us understand that we're really not in control, but that we are responsible as stewards of the planet and universe. Having responsibility to care for something without complete control over it really makes you believe in the unbelievable.

Sort of like raising children and pets. I guess it's like loving anything . . .

Kathy, you said it perfectly. "It makes us understand that we're really not in control, but that we are responsible as stewards of the planet and universe." A garden teaches that while you can help to create beauty in an area, you are never truely in control.

As for the magic of fairies and gnomes, I also agree that watching the magic in the garden itself (for example a tiny seed growing into a wonderful flowering plant, or into food that can support living creatures) makes it much easier to find fascination in the possibility in magic in other forms.

Rarejem- well said. But actually it is amazing how plants can adapt to whatever (or whoever) comes their way.