In the last few years, conversations about the language of trees are happening in the social media, news, and social activism spaces. Some books on this topic have been written, recently Suzanne Simard, leading world forest ecologist, published Finding the Mother Tree in which she brings us into the intimate world of the trees. In The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben wrote, in popular language style, about the interactions among the trees in the forest.
How could we practice the language of trees?
One of Suzzane Simard's propositions is to emulate the forest way of living. Following her suggestion, as the trees do in the forest, we should also live in collaboration with everything that exists around us, and practice altruism and generosity.
We should also take the time to sit by a tree. Eyes semi-closed, our backs against the trunk, and practice active listening. What are the branch movements telling us?; what are the creatures living on the tree?; what are the vibrations running through our bodies?; notice the colours and shapes of the leaves; learn to recognize the tree, its name, and physical structure; how do we feel when we move away from the tree?
During these two years as artists in residence with Hastings/Sunrise Community Centre, we have talked about our relationship with trees. We have also studied the topic, we have walked several forests to expand our relations in nature. Then at the beginning of 2021. we asked ourselves, how much we know about the City trees?.
There are not many native trees living in the city, thousands of introduced trees share the urban space with us and we love them. How could we get to know them?
Following these inquiries, we invited Egan Davis, a leader in the professional horticulture industry, who has worked with different gardens and institutions around Vancouver. Currently, Egan is the principal instructor for the Horticulture Training Program at the University of British Columbia. He also teaches in UBC’s Bachelor of Urban Forestry Program.
The conversation with Egan was eye-opening, we learned that our city trees are clones. We got to know that horticulturists engineer trees for urban landscapes, these trees must have their branches growing upward, so big trucks do not break off their branches; their roots can't interrupt the foundation of buildings; they also must adapt to living in a very confined space with little water and soil. These cloned trees do not produce seeds.
Egan also shared some photos of ancient forests from his travels around Mother Earth, his intention was not only to present the beauty of these old forests but to show how little space is left for our grandmother trees. In Spain, for example, the old forest has been replaced with the (over)plantation of eucalyptus trees, grown to produce toilet paper.
Since his teachings are based on science, we also learned some curiosities that our native douglas-fir tree (Pseudotsuga menzies) is not a true fir but a member of the pine family. During wind storms, the douglas-fir breaks off branches become light onto the forest floor for other plants to grow. These branches are also food for the mycelium, and they are also collected for fuel by our Indigenous neighbours.
That evening our dreaming space was populated by trees and gratitude but also with a call for planting more trees.
*See belong a couple of resources to identify the city trees, suggested by Egan Davis.
Urban Trees, created by Egan Davis https://earth.google.com/web/data=MicKJQojCiExeDdlR3RMSU8yNmczM1liSEg3enZMQVNtTFZuZGRqWVg6AwoBMA?authuser=0
Vancouver Trees app