Hi Amy, your story moved me to tears, both of grief and beauty. I love the way you gave the tree a decent 'funeral', with images of the life lost, bringing together the neighbourhood and sharing stories. I work as a landscape heritage officer in Belgium. Part of my job is protecting what we call hermitage trees: trees with a story, history or meaning, including veteran trees. Although we do all we can to preserve their lives as long as possible, inevetably sometimes a tree must go. It would be lovely to have a ritual like this: making place for goodbye, comemmoration and grief on such occasions. Thank you for sharing your story and giving me this inspiration.
It is😊. So far we never did a ritual, but after reading your post I think in the future we should. We do have an online inventory with all the heritage trees (only a part of them are protected by law) and we keep the records even when a tree has dissapeared: then we add additional information about when and why it happened. So he stays 'alive' online with photos and an overview of his life and importance.
How beautiful to learn that Belgium protects and keeps record of designated trees! Is there somewhere the public can look up these stories & histories?
Yes you can! On inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be: this is an inventory of all heritage. If you only want trees you have to select following in search options: landscape, elements and typology 'bomen'. Unfortunately we don't have an English version and I don't know how good this will work with automatic translation...
Thank you for echoing my thoughts exactly. I cry whenever I see a grand old tree being levelled to the ground. I see it as careless disrespect for a magnificent living being - albeit, at times, unavoidably necessary.
This is undoubtedly why Amy's reaction of love, respect and appreciation for what the tree had been, touched me so deeply.
Amy, I have been in this sort of situation with trees a number of times but never thought to put up artwork! On all the occasions where I was involved, the tree was cut, not for safety reasons, but "just because" reasons. Someone's whim. Someone's idea that something would "look better" without it and they had so little aesthetic vision. . . It always caused my heart to contract and my love to go out to the tree's spirit—which I absolutely feel, especially with older trees that have been soaking up earth and sky wisdom. Here is one tree poem I wrote:
My parents lived in their Berkeley home for 61 years. Planted close to the house was a Deodar Cedar that was beautifully maintained. My 2nd floor bedroom when I was growing up felt like a treehouse; I spent hours lying on my bed staring into that tree that surrounded the window. The new owners had it cut down; a shock to see but understandable. Amy, I certainly relate to your lovely requiem.
I'm saving this post to remind me how the smallest acts of creativity and compassion can impact an entire community. I grew up in the greater Portland area, but moved away decades ago; this essay was pure "Portland-ism", and made me homesick for a place that I will always call home. I love your work and your heart, Amy!
Oh my gosh, Amy, you've got me in tears. You are the unofficial self-appointed artist in residence for a tree that is no longer in residence. Many thanks.
A tree had to be removed from my front yard. The day they came to take it down I set up a chair and watched, taking pictures of the project. Neighbors stopped by to talk. The arborists asked if I was going to stay all day. I said yes, I would watch the whole thing, like I would do for a pet. In the end, they gave me a disk of a section of the tree. It’s on my mantle..
Happy to read that someone else mourns the loss of trees. A very unusual Australian Pine was taken down on my street to accommodate the placement of trailers for municipal services after they were wiped out by flooding. Someone painted “Why did you cut me down? I was healthy and strong!” on the stump. I admit I broke into tears walking by. Your Missing posters are just brilliant!
Thank you for honoring "your tree" in so many ways. My pecan tree fell over in a wind storm. It crashed through the front porch and broke the porch into pieces. As the arborist cut the tree up to remove it I asked him to slice through a branch and cut a coaster size piece as a souvenir. Luckily he thought I needed six pieces! We studied the designs in the wood and appreciated the artistry. It is worth taking a good look at the artistry of nature which is seen everywhere you look.
My friend was a construction manager for a new building going up for a famous company. The blueprints told him to wipe out the trees in the perimeter. He went to bat on behalf of the trees and he won. The trees are still there.
He’s a hero. In my neighbourhood n which I grew up, there was steady urban “ infill”
Of what were 1950’s family 1/4 acre lots. There were chickens in back yards, swings in trees, vege gardens, smaller houses & yards big enough to play ball
Games & learn to ride bicycles. Plus trees… beautiful leafy, shady trees to temper Summer heat through an era when nobody owned an air conditioner.
Now… the suburb is a sea of roofs, the biggest homes possible built on tiny lots; outdoor areas hard paved or laid to plastic grass, no trees, an odd assortment of nature unfriendly, low water consuming mostly foreign plants. Understand power, water, , dsta/phone lines, sewage & water pipes…. Where can a tree possibly find a place to spread its roots?
And the local government Council wants to “ encourage the planting of an urban forest”. 🤦🏻♀️ My 70 Year old Family Home still sits on it’s original lot. There is still the sky scraping purple flowering Jacaranda, the red/gold Autumn leaf shedding Liquidamber, the productive 4th generation fig tree that can trace its origins as a cutting, back a hundred years & then the 5 50-65 YO White Cedars which now provide both roost and berry encased seeds for a family of Endangered Species; thd Red Tailed Cockatoo…. only just surviving in suburbia as their natural habitat is ongoingly destroyed to provide space for little boxes, little boxes styled homes, built less just 3 to 6 feet apart with no open spaces reserved for
I love that story. I live in a flat with an enormous copper beech filling two of my windows. It was one of the reasons I wanted this house. I see between the branches in midwinter but for 9 months of the year I feel like I live in a treehouse. There is a serious storm here today and the wind hurling itself among the branches is deafening. Slightly alarming, very exciting. Jane x
Trees are sentient; they feel and communicate and nurse and give. We are alive because we have trees so it is only fitting that we grieve when they have passed.
This is such a lovely story that touched my heart and soul. Thank you.
I love the way you honored the tree and created a space for community around it in it's last day. I was walking in the wood with a friend yesterday recounting this story, talking about cutting trees to create more a view from a new trail, how she couldn't do it. She loved the line about the tree not blocking the view but being the view.
I'm reading this while I'm sitting in a restaurant waiting for my food and eyes are filling with tears. What a sad but beautiful story. Thank you for sharing it with us Amy!
Hi Amy, your story moved me to tears, both of grief and beauty. I love the way you gave the tree a decent 'funeral', with images of the life lost, bringing together the neighbourhood and sharing stories. I work as a landscape heritage officer in Belgium. Part of my job is protecting what we call hermitage trees: trees with a story, history or meaning, including veteran trees. Although we do all we can to preserve their lives as long as possible, inevetably sometimes a tree must go. It would be lovely to have a ritual like this: making place for goodbye, comemmoration and grief on such occasions. Thank you for sharing your story and giving me this inspiration.
Thank you so much! That sounds like a very interesting job. I'd love to hear if you ever did have a ritual like this.
It is😊. So far we never did a ritual, but after reading your post I think in the future we should. We do have an online inventory with all the heritage trees (only a part of them are protected by law) and we keep the records even when a tree has dissapeared: then we add additional information about when and why it happened. So he stays 'alive' online with photos and an overview of his life and importance.
Maybe you could celebrate the life of this tree with a posthumous plaque and ceremony and add it to your online inventory.
How beautiful to learn that Belgium protects and keeps record of designated trees! Is there somewhere the public can look up these stories & histories?
Yes you can! On inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be: this is an inventory of all heritage. If you only want trees you have to select following in search options: landscape, elements and typology 'bomen'. Unfortunately we don't have an English version and I don't know how good this will work with automatic translation...
Thank you for this information!
Your story was beautiful and moved me to tears.
In a City of Rose's a tree is a threat.
Thank you for echoing my thoughts exactly. I cry whenever I see a grand old tree being levelled to the ground. I see it as careless disrespect for a magnificent living being - albeit, at times, unavoidably necessary.
This is undoubtedly why Amy's reaction of love, respect and appreciation for what the tree had been, touched me so deeply.
Lovely post. Thank you.
and this - "It didn’t take long for me to understand that it wasn’t blocking my view. It was my view." so good
Yes, I liked that bit as well.
Amy, I have been in this sort of situation with trees a number of times but never thought to put up artwork! On all the occasions where I was involved, the tree was cut, not for safety reasons, but "just because" reasons. Someone's whim. Someone's idea that something would "look better" without it and they had so little aesthetic vision. . . It always caused my heart to contract and my love to go out to the tree's spirit—which I absolutely feel, especially with older trees that have been soaking up earth and sky wisdom. Here is one tree poem I wrote:
there is something in the branches
of these trees, so carved
so pruned to perfect balance
so wandering freely to reach the place
they really want to be
seeing them
the artist must seize her soft pencil
for the pure joy of tracing
their jogs and jags and
the forkings and crossings
creating such tantalizing
triangles and trapezoids of clear space
and tracing their paths
she knows the tree soul
and how it is kin to hers
and how it loves her attention
and how it teaches her
how to walk her own road
from deep earth to endless sky
Wonderful!
My parents lived in their Berkeley home for 61 years. Planted close to the house was a Deodar Cedar that was beautifully maintained. My 2nd floor bedroom when I was growing up felt like a treehouse; I spent hours lying on my bed staring into that tree that surrounded the window. The new owners had it cut down; a shock to see but understandable. Amy, I certainly relate to your lovely requiem.
They are magnificent trees!
I'm saving this post to remind me how the smallest acts of creativity and compassion can impact an entire community. I grew up in the greater Portland area, but moved away decades ago; this essay was pure "Portland-ism", and made me homesick for a place that I will always call home. I love your work and your heart, Amy!
thank you!
Oh my gosh, Amy, you've got me in tears. You are the unofficial self-appointed artist in residence for a tree that is no longer in residence. Many thanks.
Yes, exactly! Thank you!
A tree had to be removed from my front yard. The day they came to take it down I set up a chair and watched, taking pictures of the project. Neighbors stopped by to talk. The arborists asked if I was going to stay all day. I said yes, I would watch the whole thing, like I would do for a pet. In the end, they gave me a disk of a section of the tree. It’s on my mantle..
I also felt like it was important to watch it come down.
Happy to read that someone else mourns the loss of trees. A very unusual Australian Pine was taken down on my street to accommodate the placement of trailers for municipal services after they were wiped out by flooding. Someone painted “Why did you cut me down? I was healthy and strong!” on the stump. I admit I broke into tears walking by. Your Missing posters are just brilliant!
I like that someone left that message!
Sad but beautiful story. I would paint the tree on my window so I could still see it. I have a window that lookes into multiple trees.
My husband suggested that very thing this morning!
Thank you for honoring "your tree" in so many ways. My pecan tree fell over in a wind storm. It crashed through the front porch and broke the porch into pieces. As the arborist cut the tree up to remove it I asked him to slice through a branch and cut a coaster size piece as a souvenir. Luckily he thought I needed six pieces! We studied the designs in the wood and appreciated the artistry. It is worth taking a good look at the artistry of nature which is seen everywhere you look.
Oh that's nice!
Beautiful story. That tree must have been there even before the people arrived there.
Exactly what I was thinking. Which really demonstrates the hubris of urban design, if you fail to work around what the environment provides.
My friend was a construction manager for a new building going up for a famous company. The blueprints told him to wipe out the trees in the perimeter. He went to bat on behalf of the trees and he won. The trees are still there.
oh that's good
He’s a hero. In my neighbourhood n which I grew up, there was steady urban “ infill”
Of what were 1950’s family 1/4 acre lots. There were chickens in back yards, swings in trees, vege gardens, smaller houses & yards big enough to play ball
Games & learn to ride bicycles. Plus trees… beautiful leafy, shady trees to temper Summer heat through an era when nobody owned an air conditioner.
Now… the suburb is a sea of roofs, the biggest homes possible built on tiny lots; outdoor areas hard paved or laid to plastic grass, no trees, an odd assortment of nature unfriendly, low water consuming mostly foreign plants. Understand power, water, , dsta/phone lines, sewage & water pipes…. Where can a tree possibly find a place to spread its roots?
And the local government Council wants to “ encourage the planting of an urban forest”. 🤦🏻♀️ My 70 Year old Family Home still sits on it’s original lot. There is still the sky scraping purple flowering Jacaranda, the red/gold Autumn leaf shedding Liquidamber, the productive 4th generation fig tree that can trace its origins as a cutting, back a hundred years & then the 5 50-65 YO White Cedars which now provide both roost and berry encased seeds for a family of Endangered Species; thd Red Tailed Cockatoo…. only just surviving in suburbia as their natural habitat is ongoingly destroyed to provide space for little boxes, little boxes styled homes, built less just 3 to 6 feet apart with no open spaces reserved for
shady trees or any semblance of “Green Space”. 😥
What a beautiful post. What a great "ride!" ｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡
I think so! Although in fairness, it's an Asian import so obviously brought by humans.
I love that story. I live in a flat with an enormous copper beech filling two of my windows. It was one of the reasons I wanted this house. I see between the branches in midwinter but for 9 months of the year I feel like I live in a treehouse. There is a serious storm here today and the wind hurling itself among the branches is deafening. Slightly alarming, very exciting. Jane x
I also look out at a copper beach on the other side! It's a wonderful year-round show.
Lucky you are!
Trees are sentient; they feel and communicate and nurse and give. We are alive because we have trees so it is only fitting that we grieve when they have passed.
This is such a lovely story that touched my heart and soul. Thank you.
Crying for a tree at 11 in the morning on a Saturday wasn't in my plans but oh God, what a lovely thing.
Awwww thank you!
I love the way you honored the tree and created a space for community around it in it's last day. I was walking in the wood with a friend yesterday recounting this story, talking about cutting trees to create more a view from a new trail, how she couldn't do it. She loved the line about the tree not blocking the view but being the view.
Oh I'm so glad you shared it, thank you!
I'm reading this while I'm sitting in a restaurant waiting for my food and eyes are filling with tears. What a sad but beautiful story. Thank you for sharing it with us Amy!
Awww thank you!
I'm in a very similar state. Yes, thank you for a beautiful story and for your action to share with others in the tree's neighborhood.