Not entirely gone with the wind

[mount_oregano]

For 140 years, this cedar of Lebanon (photographed with my husband and mother-in-law) grew in the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid, one of my favorite places.

Last week, it fell. Weeks of rain had softened the soil around it roots, then a windstorm blew it down. It weighed two and a half tons.

But it won't disappear. Some of the wood was given to sculptors. Some will be taken to the garden's workshop and be made into benches or turned into compost to nurture other plants. And two luthiers took a 100-kilo piece of a branch to use to make musical instruments. Someday, you may dance to the music of majestic tree.

— Sue Burke

Comments

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

I love this post.

[mount-oregano.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[birdhousefrog.livejournal.com]

That's really some tree.

And, in other news, I see that the wolf photographer was outed for not using a wild wolf in his photo. Sounds like he was a pretty good writer as well as photographer. The photo is still quite beautiful. And my heart is eased knowing that he *didn't* train something wild. That bothered me a lot, despite your assurance that the wolf would be fine.

Oz

[mount-oregano.livejournal.com]

Yes, that was in the news here -- apparently the wolf is a professional actor. "I'm not a real predator, but I play one on TV." The photo is beautiful, but the rules of the photo contest say that you can't use non-wild animals.

[arhyalon.livejournal.com]

That's really neat. What a beautiful tree. I'm trying to picture Lebanon back when it was a huge forest of these trees.

We had a similar thing with the Liberty Tree at the college I attended. It had been planted as a peace agreement between the US and some Native Indian Tribes. It was huge, but fell in a storm some years ago.

Various things were done with the wood and a small sapling child of the tree was moved to take it's spot.

[mount-oregano.livejournal.com]

They're thinking of asking Lebanon for another cedar, but they're endangered in Lebanon and Madrid isn't the ideal place for the species, so they may make their decision on what's best for the tree.

It does leave a gap in the garden.

[ericreynolds.livejournal.com]

I hate to see a tree like that go. At least the wood will be used, but still. We have a big cottonwood in our yard that's around that age and I would hate it if anything happened to it.

[mount-oregano.livejournal.com]

If trees could talk.... No, wait, I wrote that novel.

Cottonwoods are lovely trees. We had a lot of them around my grandparent's home.