OPINION: Learning life’s lessons under a tree

GUELPH – I have a tree in my backyard that I’d like to submit for Centre Wellington’s Tree of the Year contest.

I would, but it’s not in Centre Wellington. And it’s not actually a tree. But it’s very tree like, and still worth raving about, in my humble opinion.

It’s actually a honeysuckle shrub that’s grown way out of control. My guess is that it was planted when the house was new, making it about 75 years old.

When I moved in 20 years ago, it was a very big, droopy shrub and I found it annoying trying to cut the grass under the shrub. 

So I started to limb it up.

I discovered that there was a lot of dead wood in there and started to prune that out. In doing so, I turned this shrub into a tree.

I didn’t mean to do it, but in its tree form, tucked in that corner alongside another tree, it became a great spot for a hammock. 

And under this magical canopy, with its amazing bark architecture, and before I would inevitably drift off to sleep (that’s the power of a hammock), I saw birds, bird nests, angry birds fighting over nests, mama birds feeding their broods, and baby birds taking their first flight.

It was many years before I realized this was a honeysuckle. Given the shrub’s over-size and the diminutive size of the honeysuckle flower, I hardly noticed the blossoms way up high. But that scent! I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from, but loved it.

After a time, I realized the dead undercarriage was actually supporting the new growth, making the whole thing top heavy and susceptible to a wild winter storm. Or a wild summer storm, as we’ve seen in recent weeks and months. 

I had an arborist come in, who trimmed a little off the top and a little underneath and advised me to let the suckers grow and leave the dead wood alone.

Eventually the dead will fall away. Until that day, the new growth needs support and time to stand on its own, I was told.

If trees are a metaphor for life, this one is saying very clearly: appreciate the old and what it has to offer, support the new as it comes into its own, and tree or shrub, don’t fixate on labels.

Because in the end, we are stronger when we work together, even if we are a little quirky.