Sometimes, I need a reminder to work “with” the natural order of things, rather than against them.
This tree was planted just off our back patio before we moved in nearly twenty years ago. The trunk was 4-5 inches across, and it was around eight feet tall. I loved the leaves. The proximity to the patio? Not so much, roots being what they are.
So we decided to cut it down. And we did, but we didn’t grind out the stump. We just kept cutting down the parts that kept popping back up, expecting it to die eventually. Needless to say, it’s withstood decades of abuse at our hands, as we never quite got around to grinding the stump out, and it just kept doing what trees do, and growing any which way it could.
This year, I looked at all the new growth points, and gave up. It clearly wants to live, and I want shade over the patio, so cut all but the straightest sucker off, and I told my husband I was just going to let it grow.
Will the roots eventually damage the patio? Maybe. Probably, though there’s a tree with the same sort of leaves a couple blocks over right next to a sidewalk, and it doesn’t seem to be pushing that concrete up (yet).
I’m not sure what kind of tree it is, but when the leaves get a bit bigger, I’ll find out and look it up. Regardless, I’m done fighting with it. Anything with that strong of a will to live in our yard, where we’ve struggled to get other trees to take hold, deserves a chance to do its thing. I know this one will grow fast and strong, because it comes up from the ground every year and ends up taller than I am before summer even gets started.
For this year, I’m going to pick a nice spot somewhere near the top and lop it down just a foot or so, to encourage some branching. Then we’ll see how it does over the summer. I should probably read up on tree care. Lord knows I watch enough bonsai videos.
I don’t know about you, but I need this reminder in my life every so often. Things are so much easier and less stressful when I stop fighting and go with the natural flow of things.
Are you a fighter? Or are you a “go with the flow” sort of person?
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