#on trees

on trees

Trees,quiet, yet if you close your eyes and listen,they tell a thousand stories,truths unknown.

When I can't take it anymore,I look at a tree,I feel the reassurance and hope seep into my bones.

I realized while absorbing this knowledge that I do not, in fact, have a great base of knowledge about trees; I've never taken a class on trees. I can recognize all of the fruit and nut trees because of my foraging habits, and I can recognize oaks, lindens, willows, birches, poplars, black locust, ginkgo, and maples. Last year I learned to recognize beeches, elms, and hornbeams. But there are still so many trees, even close around me, that I do not know the name of!

A few months ago, while walking around the park, I noticed it was filled with trees that were beautiful, tall, had smooth but layered bark and gorgeous maple-like leaves, and I couldn't figure out what that tree was, because it was not maple. Most parks here are filled with wild chestnuts (which benefits me a lot, since I use wild chestnuts as a laundry detergent), and I've seen oaks and poplars used as a park tree, but I had no idea what this was, and there was a lot of it.

I took pictures, and set out to research; eventually I found an old article that described the town's initiative to create all of the parks, and the tree I was wondering about was maple-leafed plane tree! It's a mix of american sycamore and asian plane tree, and it's not native to us, but very resistant to air pollution and drought, so it's a popular tree to import and cultivate in city parks.

I actually had never heard the name of this tree until finding it in the article, and all of other people I asked about it, had no idea what I was talking about. I was a bit offended there was a tree with origin and name completely unknown growing everywhere in the city.

Learning about trees makes me extremely pleased and inspired, so I thought I would create a little game; I go out, then confront every tree I see and figure out if I can recognize what it is; if I can't, I would take pictures and research until I know what it is. There are trees I already know and love around the building, like the poplar I can see from my window (and everyone complains about because it's horrible for people with allergies), black walnut trees that are a great foraging resource, pear tree that is most beloved because it provides me with fruit during the summer, couple of wild plums, and cedars that the nearby hotel planted for decoration. But there are probably 20 more tree varieties around me that I cannot recognize.

I was about to head out, when I realized, it's actually February, and none of those trees have any leaves on them, which makes my mission difficult. I could still potentially research them from the bark and the branch formation, but, it is much easier if I can see the leaf as well. Fruit trees are the most easy to spot in the spring, because they will flower and that makes them stand out, chestnuts and magnolias will flower as well. It's how I found a lot of fruit trees around the banished settlement.

But to do a more thorough tree research around the city, I will have to wait a few months. I'll make a post about how many trees I recognized, and how many I had to research! I am almost certain to learn about all of the uses, food, and medicine these trees can provide as well, information on any tree is like information on possible food and medicine source, and that makes it incredibly worth knowing.

The trees in our neighborhood were cut down last year. I remember our hearts ached at the sight as we saw the people hacking away at the branches that had grown to touch the fifth or sixth floor of a tall building easily. The dense foliage, grown a deep green, served as a gorgeous backdrop for the rain to see from the window.

I remember thinking what purpose would it serve to cut down the tree? after seeing the video about the broccoli tree by john green. Apparently people can’t let nature be, just thriving and vibing on its own (literally not coming in your way, in any way) and they will cut down trees still.

A year later, the branches are reaching for the sky again, the leaves make a beautiful light green and the trees flowered this year. While I was peering at the newer branches the other day, I realized it was easier to make them out by their lighter brown colour as compared to the darker shade of the tree trunk.

Green is often the colour of spring, new leaves and new life. Brown can be the colour of growing. Slowly, consistently, persistently.