No 43 - Trees ..contd

The weeping willow tree came much later and was planted near the front entrance. Relatively young, the bark was light green and smooth but offered little shade and a certain portion of the stems quickly showed sign of 'cut-and-bruises' - result of the constant banging against the fully open gate. I was told i have better 'luck' than others in propagating willow from cut-stem. The procedure was simple: loosened some soil, and impaled the 3 foot stem at 60-70 degree at depth of 4-6 inches. Watered them and watch them sprouting young leaves. My neighbour opposite our house had a fully grown tree from one of my earlier transplants.

My grandparents presented us two chempaka (MAGNOLIACEAE) in wide-mouth urns. We planted them in the front courtyard. Both the orange and white chempaca were some of the strongest scented flowers i had come across. However my mum said she felt they gave her a fainting spell. When the trees flowered, they were normally found high up in the branches but I could detect their unique aroma wafted in the cool night breeze especially after an downpour when i took a study break. Apart from the flowers which i had studied, the trees I noticed also bore strange or ugly grape- like bunches of berries each with seeds inside. At that time i was thinking why a tree with such elegant flowers form bore such ugly fruits.