Festival of the Trees #13: Putting Down Roots

Welcome to Festival of the Trees for July 2007

Trees are inextricably linked to places, perhaps because it takes them so long to reach maturity and majesty. When we become very attached to a place, we liken ourselves to the trees, and say that we have put down roots. This month's Festival of the Trees looks at places where trees have taken hold, including places in our hearts. Where, then, are the places we find trees?

I've found them at all four points of the compass:



West, on the edge of the Grand Canyon

The last tree North

A tree at my former home, back East


A magnolia, the epitome of Southerness



Windywillow finds them nearby, in a farmer's field



Jade, at Arboreality, finds them everywhere. From a Horse Chestnut at her parents' home to a mulberry tree next to her cottage, Jade shares her love of trees and her understanding of their place in the world.

We don't usually look for trees in the desert. However, the Palm Springs Savant (aka Rick Rockhill) finds date palms thriving there, as he illustrates with pictures from Sheild's Date Farm. (Unsolicited and uncompensated endorsement: I've been there. I highly recommend the date shakes.)

Mary shares palm trees seen at the Palo Alto Baylands, filled with egrets.

Jayne, of Journey through Grace, finds a tree in a nearby cow pasture, filled with vultures.

And Florida Cracker, at Pure Florida, shares his love of the Florida Keys in a post filled with pictures of trees found there, many filled with frigate birds.

Cate ("Kerrdelune") at Beyond the Fields we know shares pictures of trees at Dalhousie Lake and Bitterroot and Bergamot shows a picture of trees by the Missouri River.

Paul Lester celebrates his love of Seabrook Island with a series of posts and photos, including this one of trees and Spanish moss.



Pablo has put down deep roots at Roundrock, as we all do in places we love. Not only his own roots, but those of cypress and maple trees as part of his effort to restore the land.



Dave celebrates the trees of the Snyder Middleswarth Natural Area even as he mourns the dying hemlocks.

Chet celebrates a copper beech in Ireland, with words and pictures.

Also across the big pond, the Crafty Green Poet shares a link to the Edinburgh Tree Festival, a gathering not of trees but of tree lovers.

Down under, we find eucalyptus counseling a willow not to weep, while on the opposite side of the globe in Peru, Claudia leads us on a tour of a forest in the Valley of the Salas River.

The down side of trees is that no matter how rooted in a place they are, trees may come down. Similarly, we may find ourselves uprooted by life or circumstances. James Jourdan reflects on life, inspired by a fallen tree. Christopher also reflects on the fallen, as does Genevieve, while Pablo reflects instead on a tree deliberately felled.

Xris, the Flatbush Gardener, celebrates trees found in memories, both personal and societal.

Of course, sometimes the trees root themselves in our imagination, or their roots stray across the fragile boundary between the known and the unknown. Vicki pointed me to this picture of a tree that contains a portal to another reality.

Some of the trees we find in the reality inside us, we celebrate in stories and pictures. Others push through and bloom in poetry ancient and modern.

May you find green and growing trees where ever you look.

This concludes the July Festival of the Trees, the first one of FOTT's second year. If you'd like to host the August fest, or any future edition, write to Dave, bontasaurus (at) yahoo (dot) com, or Pablo, editor (at) roundrockjournal (dot) com.