@HaddenTurner 'Every tree's an ecosystem' is a regenerative design mantra. A yet more holistic perspective would aver a fuller depth realm—that each and every tree tells a story. Certainly, in your instance, a tale of co-existence. Who knows why trees come to be?
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My toughest planting yet. An extremely resilient apple variety grafted onto our most powerful rootstock, situated into the assembly area at the front of the Eugene Mission's Men's Center. Four years ago, I pick-axed a hole straight down through deep gravel to plant it. There's not a speck of greenery elsewhere within this large, brutalist cage that has hundreds of people passing through it, every day of the year. I have barely tended to it. This tree is sustained by homeless men, of their own care and volition, passing through. Its growth has been slow (as expected, given its challenging context) but steady and healthy. Nick, my namesake here, makes a point of sitting with it whenever he visits. Another hidden sage upon the streets. We talk Herman Hesse: "My soul turns into a tree." Common prejudice to the contrary, no matter how tough the circumstances, the houseless consistently care for plants I put in the ground, I find... Photo of Nick sitting next to the tree.