Trees are big and strong, and they often anchor our plant lovers to a particular place and time. Our plant lovers have hoisted their siblings up in trees... and pushed them out. Trees tie us to childhood, delicious fruits, loves lost. Trees help us find our way. Trees move cross country and begin new lives.
In honor of Arbor Day, we hope you enjoy this roundup of some of our favorite Tree-based Plant Love Stories
Author: Megan Presland
Tree: Apple (Malus pumila)
What happens in the event that you try to hoist your brother up a tree? “We outfitted my brother in a life vest, bike helmet, garden gloves and cowboy boots. We grabbed one of my dad’s old harnesses from his forestry days that we used to play dress up and added bungee cords to fit it to my brother’s body. We then found various ropes to attach to him before we hoisted him into the tree.”
Author: David Gill
Tree: Mango (Mangifera indica)
People love mangoes… but they’re not the only ones!
“As a boy I knew that I was outnumbered by these agile competitors, so I attempted a variety of strategies to balance the odds: from standing guard under the trees, bagging choice mangoes in cloth bags to "hide" them from the monkeys, to more direct territorial behaviour (i.e. yelling and chasing monkeys down the street).”
Author: Lesley Evans Ogden
Tree: Cedar
“Over a period of years, with much banging of nails, scouring of the scrap pile for good planks, our fort went from a simple platform to a three-story structure. It was a place of freedom and possibility. Kids only. No adults around. At our treefort, we were pirates, and spies, and explorers, knights, and warriors.”
Author: Morgan Tingley
Tree: Lemon (Citrus × limon)
A lemon tree moves cross-country!
Author: Charles W. Bier
Tree: Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)
Plant love, people love, and loss are the themes of this touching Plant Love Story.
“Some months later I traveled to the small valley where she was living; a tributary of Buffalo Creek. I reintroduced myself and wondered aloud if she had ever considered tapping the sugar maple trees in her valley and making maple syrup. In what is now a classic family quote she said: “I would tap those trees and make syrup, if I only knew how to identify a sugar maple.”
But my god, that was one of my specialties and we joined forces to produce maple syrup, a garden, and take lots of nature hikes.”
Author: Bonnie McGill
Tree: Silver maple (Acer saccharinum)
Bonnie maaaaybe pushed her older brother out of a tree.
“When I shoved Tim to get him to stop throwing sticks at me it was never my intention to knock him off balance so that he would fall about 15 feet to the ground and break his arm…but that’s what happened…
it’s these few, cherished, shared experiences that, no matter how distant our two planets seem to be, will always bring us back together—to that maple tree at dad’s house in the summer of 1995.”
Author: Lily Glaeser
Tree: various
“By the end of the drive, Rose burst out laughing. You see, we hadn’t said the name of a single street, we gave directions such as “turn left after the elm tree,” or “after the line of cottonwoods, keep right,” and “park in front of those red maples.” Rose was amazed and amused at how we knew the city. It hadn’t occurred to me until that moment just how far I had come -- even in the middle of a bustling city, we could only see the trees!”
Do you have a Tree Love Story to share? Submit your story here