Behind my studio in the neighbours garden grew a big and fruitful hazelnut tree.
It dropped nuts onto the patio and a year or so ago when I built a studio the noise of the hazelnuts became like a steady drum beat on the roof as the nuts fell and bounced to the ground.
Considering the fruitfulness of this tree I have only ever seen one squirrel in the three years I have lived here.
New neighbours moved in behind our house and with them came tree surgeons who dismantled the HUGE Laylandi which stole a good third of my view of the sky. For this I was grateful as I could see the moon rise and enjoy a fuller sky at night and day.
I asked if they could leave the hazelnut tree or cut it back as it was fruitful, alive and also blocked my view of a tower block.
But, they hacked at it and left it half chopped for a month or two and then cut it down altogether.
Since then I have seen leaves and shoots grow up in my garden and I began to see the legacy the hazelnut tree had left behind.
There are at least 30 shoots growing up like tiny trees, some of them a foot tall, some smaller.
Many of them were still attached to the hazelnut itself which had been buried in the ground.
It was like viewing a birth right there as I studied the root and the nut and the shoot and the leaves.
And it was beautiful.
It dropped nuts onto the patio and a year or so ago when I built a studio the noise of the hazelnuts became like a steady drum beat on the roof as the nuts fell and bounced to the ground.
Considering the fruitfulness of this tree I have only ever seen one squirrel in the three years I have lived here.
New neighbours moved in behind our house and with them came tree surgeons who dismantled the HUGE Laylandi which stole a good third of my view of the sky. For this I was grateful as I could see the moon rise and enjoy a fuller sky at night and day.
I asked if they could leave the hazelnut tree or cut it back as it was fruitful, alive and also blocked my view of a tower block.
But, they hacked at it and left it half chopped for a month or two and then cut it down altogether.
Since then I have seen leaves and shoots grow up in my garden and I began to see the legacy the hazelnut tree had left behind.
There are at least 30 shoots growing up like tiny trees, some of them a foot tall, some smaller.
Many of them were still attached to the hazelnut itself which had been buried in the ground.
It was like viewing a birth right there as I studied the root and the nut and the shoot and the leaves.
And it was beautiful.
Comments