Requiem for a Tree

This was a tree in our garden which blew over in a intense windstorm. He was one of a pair, and they had been in our garden for at least 10 years. Now he is no more, and his partner stands alone in the night. I read an article that plants can detect the proximity of nearby relatives and since those guys were about the same age and similar type I bet they came from the same nursery and so were probably related.

If you think about it, in the existential sense, if it's true that plants can sense proximity then these trees 'knew' each other and the other plants and trees in my garden. Do you ever wonder what names they have for each other? We call dogs and cats "Louie" and "Spot" but the animals obviously know each other as well - do they have referent names to label each other with? What about plants? Do they use pheromones, or positions, or what?

So how does a plant access the details of a being it "knows" about?

Yes, I think too much. And that's a common problem in the world - too much contemplation. More mindless, thoughtless action is surely the cure for what ails us.

I cut off a piece of the standing tree and threw it in with the remants of the old tree. Maybe silly, but I wouldn't want the dead one going away without some part of the tree it had spent all of its life with.

I guess I should leave a piece of the old tree with the survivor as well. One thing is for sure - the ecosystem of the garden has changed. Wonder what that will mean.