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The unpredictability of nature – some consider it scary, others find it fascinating. But trees... trees, like other plants, do not speak. And when they suffer, they are mostly subtle about it.
On the other side of the globe, two old lime tree s in the middle of a tiny village experienced what no individual will ever achieve. They witnessed both World Wars, two dictatorships, and the fall of the Iron Curtain. Unlike other lime trees in some other places, both were free to grow however they pleased for two centuries and one of them nearly lost one of its strong branches, if it weren't for the villagers that kept it in place with a steel ribbon, which now has become part of the tree.
Despite withstanding the harshest conditions, two droughts within four years caused the lime trees to slowly become hollow. Their leaves, once huge, and their blossoms, which one could smell from miles away, are small and wilting fast. The surrounding area was covered in wilted grass and several other trees struggling for at least a drop of water.
With the nearing end of the unusually warm winter, it was decided that both needed a drastic cut, with no one considering that cutting them down to the bare minimum makes them vulnerable to diseases. And even when it became apparent that only one of them was in dire need of it, they did not stop to mutilate it.
In a strange turn of events, a third tree was chosen to receive the same treatment, yet did not budge. After one branch, the guys gave up – the tree refused to be cut and damaged their chainsaws. The weather changed in the following weeks to months, blessing the entire area with rain. Both lime trees have begun to regrow faster than expected; their leaves are twice the size of those grown by the uncut lime trees, their new branches follow the path of the ones that got cut down, and the bees – despite the trees still needing a few days to bloom, several types of bees already are occupying the newly developing crowns.
But now...
Now this village experiences yet another drought. The grass – while being a wild meadow harboring protected plants, it is being turned into badly-mowed lawn every May and June – has turned into hay again, yet all trees collectively decided to withstand the lack of rain. The old, the young, and the different ones – all of them carry more buds than usual and refuse to rid themselves of parts of their green dresses. They now better (wet) days will come and that fighting each other over resources is not beneficial to any of them.
In fact yet another tree near another street lived a solitary life. It was visibly younger than the old ones, 100 years, at best. Of course, it also experienced quite a lot, yet it wasn't enough... Five years ago, the first drought was enough to endanger the villagers living close by, with the younger tree losing its strongest branch. Upon closer inspection, this branch consisted of nothing but bark. Its intimidating appearance disappeared the moment it was picked up by a petite woman. The tree had to be put out of its misery. In its place, a new tree is growing.
All the other trees, as it appears, seemingly do not want to experience the same fate and now stick together, even the old chestnut tree at the other end of this place, which struggled for years after it witnessed two healthy apple trees close to a playground being removed for silly human reasons; their place is now occupied by a bench no one uses.
It is not just mammals that benefit from sticking together. And maybe, the ash tree in Vermont will be lucky enough to receive some form of support from its neighbors just like the old lime trees on the other side of the globe renew themselves, alongside their neighboring younger fellows, the birches, the huge chestnut, and the remaining apple trees.
Yet, as you said, only time will tell. Trees don't talk.
Having listened intently to Alex's story about his resilient community of lime trees, Tracker took another sip of his tea and nodded in appreciation.
"That was a beautiful tale, Alex. I'll have to remember it to share with my friends back in Vermont. I'm glad to hear that the old lime trees survived the droughts and are growing back stronger than ever. My little ash is enjoying the continued cloudy and rainy weather, and the Porklet has yet to return."