The Cherry Tree Dilemma: Mindfulness, Complexity and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)

  In attachment blossoms fall, in aversion weeds spread. Dogen, Genjo Koan (1233 CE) Smack in the middle of the back yard is a non-native, very short tree that, when I moved in, looked like a dwarf, would-be weeping willow. Scraggly, neglected, it stood just over five feet high, and its branches hung down to the ground all around. It took up a fair amount of space; of course nothing grew in its shade. I did recognize it: a weeping cherry—not a naturally grown specimen of one of the beautiful Japanese varieties, but a “frankentree,” which, as Brian Funk of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden has written, “are the flowering cherries on sale at home improvement stores” that “look like mops, or umbrellas, or octopus trees.” They are created when “weeping cherry branches… are grafted onto a straight trunk that was cut off at five feet tall.”  Well yes, exactly. Not only was it ungainly, but: what was the point of its existence, and what good would it do?  I mentally tagged it for rem...

On Summer Break, Back Soon

During the month of August I'll be on a blogging break; I plan to be back the first week of September.

Until then, dear reader, happy gardening to you.

Comments

Janet said…
Enjoy the break, Adrian
Anonymous said…
May your garden enjoy your shadow, and your weeds not break your back!
Don Plummer said…
I hope you have a restful break. We'll see you back soon.
Unknown said…
You don't take vacations to blog more ;) Have a good one.
Thank you all for your good wishes and humor.

I will be reading and weeding, (and definitely not blogging, lol)--but also doing some offline writing.