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have you seen him

i wanna know what the hell this man saw

circus trees are not actually traditional or what I would call ‘woodland management’. unlike my posts on espalier & coppicing, circus trees aren’t useful so much as a horticultural novelty. they are, in fact, a living art form created by tree shaping. furthermore, they were all created by one person–Axel Erlandson. 

that’s because ‘circus tree’ actually refers to trees from the Tree Circus, a 1940s tourist attraction created by Erlandson and his family. Erlandson, a Swedish immigrant and farmer, spent decades shaping trees as a hobby, before eventually deciding to display them as a roadside attraction. though often featured in Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, changes in highway routes made it difficult for the Tree Circus to attract crowds. 

The Tree Circus and its trees have changed homes several times–in the 1970s it was re-invented as a short-lived dinosaur park, before being scheduled to be bulldozed, before being granted a reprieve due to community outcry, before being granted another reprieve by real estate bankruptcy. 

Eventually the trees found their current home in Gilroy Gardens, a “garden themed” theme park where the trees remain a center attraction. Perhaps the most famous is the “Basket Tree” which is admittedly…quite beautiful. 

Erlandson created the Basket Tree by grafting together 6 young sycamore saplings. The tree you see above is the result of decades of growth and care.

It’s all a weird, uniquely American story–an immigrant farmer takes the (heh) fruits of a lifelong labor of love, and turns it into a struggling tourist attraction. blundering capitalism almost destroys the circus trees but community outcry (and blundering capitalism) ultimately save them–by giving them their own theme park.  

I find it all bizarre & beautiful & a little bit hopeful, how there’s still room in this world for strangeness & oddities to be created and to grow. fun fact: the trees are only alive today bc of continuing care, including the efforts of a young group of activists who continually risked arrest to water & feed the trees in the late 70s.

   ♡ You’re never left wondering where you stand with Brock. It’s pretty obvious from the start that he sees you as a potential romantic partner as well as a friend. There’s little subtlety in his flirtation. While not as blatant as his anime counterpart, he’s still very open with his affections and likes to see you blush.

   ♡ Compliments are the norm. He’ll tell you that he likes what you’ve done with your hair even if it’s exactly the same and will call your smile sunshine no matter how tired your eyes look. “You’re cute,” he tells you with a smile. You call him out for flattery and he replies, “Not flattery. Honesty.”

   ♡ He’s complimented your physique before and nearly choked on his own tongue with nerves the second the words left his mouth. He didn’t mean to tell you that your ass looked great. And in his defense, he didn’t. He said “those jeans are… wow.” And another defense: he didn’t mean to. But he stands by it if you call him on it. If you don’t, he never addresses it. 

   ♡ His flirting is mostly words - little things that make you smile. And your smile makes his heart flutter. But sometimes he’ll rest his hand on your back for just a moment or his hug will linger. Your hands will brush while walking. One day he’ll tell you he wants to hold yours. He states it plainly. He’ll seem oblivious to the look on your face.