Note: This was originally posted on my Equus nom Veritas site. I am reposting it here, along with the poem which preceded it and a sequel post. I hope you enjoy these. In my last
post, I wrote a short poem about a tree. Today, I want to talk a little more about the inspiration of this poem. At around this time last year, I paid a visit to Wildseed Farms. While there, I bought a small seedling: it was a Montrose Chaste Tree. I had intended it to spruce up the view from my balcony, which overlooked the vast northern parking lot of my apartment complex. I also hoped it would give a little privacy, since the balcony was pretty open.
I did, therefor, tend the tree with some devotion, and at first it seemed to be doing well: surviving, if not actually thriving. It certainly made our view out the window a little nicer, and it made the balcony nicer to look at from the parking lot.
Then I moved across town to the Far West neighborhood, which is a far nicer neighborhood. My balcony no longer overlooks a parking lot (though that is visible), but rather the yard area of the complex. It's shaded by two tall (for Texas) trees, and the balcony rail, once a few waist-high metal bars meant only to prevent drunkards from falling three stories to their (and the complex's) doom, is not a wooden wall which is nearly chest-high. In other words, our balcony is pretty much private, especially in comparison with the one at the old complex.
Of course, when I moved, I kept my plants, including the Montrose Chaste Tree. I continued to care for them, and my shrubs actually thrived. Not so for the Chaste Tree, which slowly began to loose its vibrancy. Leaves began to wither and changed from green to gray. Oddly, I noticed that new leaves were still budding on some branches, even as other branches seemed to be dying, so I did the sensible thing and started pruning the tree.
Even this was to no avail, and soon even the new leaves were withering. My tree was dead. I therefore moved it to the base of the building, from where the maintenance people would remove it the next week. It did rain the next day, and then the rain broke the following day and there was a lot of sunlight. Lo and behold! The tree began to grow more leaves, and within a few days was actually looking healthy again!
I reclaimed it and places it back on the porch, but then realized that it needed more sunlight to thrive. The wall and the two large trees were blocking a lot of the sunlight from reaching the Chaste Tree--that's why it had died. It was hidden from the sunlight. I found a solution to this problem, too: a table which boosted the tree up so that its branches were clear of the wall. The tree is now actually thriving. Tomorrow I will tell about the lessons I've learned from this experience.
Tags: Musings
