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Published Friday, December 11, 2020
Enrich the world
By Victoria Torley
When you plant a tree – what do you have in mind?
You want shade or fruit or flowers or maybe a unique shape. Perhaps you want to attract butterflies, birds, or other wildlife and if you plant the right kind of tree, that’s what you will get. You will also get so much more.
Under the ground, you will get roots that will dig deeply into the soil pushing it aside and breaking it up so that worms will have an easier time digging their tunnels. The roots themselves will allow aeration of the soil and the mycorrhiza that attach to the roots will enrich the soil itself.
Oh yes, those roots. Plant the right sort of tree, a madera negra for example, and it will put down very deep roots that will help prevent soil erosion.
That shade you wanted? Those leaves refresh the air and add oxygen. As the flowers and leaves fall they degrade and enrich the soil. The fruit that you don’t pick feeds local wildlife then degrades and enriches the soil. So much from so little.
Look on the undersides of broad leaves during the rain and you are going to find all kinds of butterflies and moths using the leaves as umbrellas keeping their delicate wings from being damaged. If you’re lucky, you will see a mother bird on her nest with wide spread wings protecting her eggs or babies.
Let’s not forget what the trunk and branches host. Look on them for moss and fungi but also for orchids and bromeliads. The tree’s flowers are not the only flowers to be found on them.
And bugs. Bugs like trees. How many times have you found a cicada exoskeleton on a tree branch and heard that loud buzz in the air? Cicadas emerge from the ground and have to hang on to something to molt and become a winged insect. And they are tasty for all kinds of wildlife. I will admit here that I once ate one – roasted it on the barbeque first. It was quite bland.
There is much, much more – the squirrels and monkeys that share our trees here in Costa Rica, for example. And then, usually long after the planter is gone, there is the death of the tree.
A dying tree provides a home for insects and then slow fertilizer for the forest floor. Hollow logs provide homes for the local stingless honey bees. All kinds of critters make use of the tree as it decays.
So, plant that tree. Plant a dozen. Enrich the air and the earth.
Enrich your life!
Plant for the Week
No surprises today, just something we all love blooming year-round in Costa Rica. Aren’t you glad you’re not snow-covered?
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Editor's note: More information on this article or about gardening, Ms. Victoria Torley, gardener columnist, can be reached at victoriatorley1@gmail.com
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