Some things just take a long time to do. I grew up during the years of construction on the Washington (DC) Cathedral. It was a common field trip destination, so I watched the building go up over a number of the 83 years it took for construction. It was my introduction to the concept that you could devote your entire working life to something that you would never see completed.

Given that trees can live a thousand years, clearly care of a tree is also something you might spend your life on and never see the end of the work. But, a tree itself, is ongoing, so to speak. So, while you might not live as long as the tree, you can certainly enjoy its perfection (okay, and its diseases and assorted limb failures – a euphemism for dead branches) throughout the time you work with it. You have a hand in what happens but most of the responsibility belongs to the tree.

Somewhere in between and not nearly so long is growing furniture. “Money doesn’t grow on trees,” was a common refrain when I wanted something my parents weren’t going to buy for me. And, of course, that opened the mind of an eight-year-old to the bigger question of what might grow on trees…

Tree shaping is a time-honored tradition but has gone relatively mainstream in the past few years thanks to the spectacular work of Gavin Munro who, with his wife and partner Alison Munro, owns Full Grown. The images on their website seem to be copyright protected so I didn’t shamelessly copy one in here but the chairs, lamps, and other furniture are spectacular. Although they are the most prominent producers at the moment, there are a number of other people engaged in tree shaping. Just google growing furniture from trees or something similar to see some amazing work.

And, with a fast growing tree, like a willow, you can grow your own chair in a decade – which is nothing compared to a century!

The Rose of Hildesheim climbs on the wall of Hildesheim Cathedral
Image from wikimedia by Stefan Schäfer, Lich

And they mean that literally. I just learned about the Rose of Hildesheim. A Rosa canina, or wild dog rose, it is thought to be about 700 years old. Among the many feats of its long life, it was bombed during WWII. Not that the rose was a target, I’m sure, but the cathedral, which gave it support, was. All the above-ground shrub was believed to have been destroyed but the roots were intact. The stone rubble created something of a haven for the rose while the half-timbered houses around it burned.

I read something about a thousand year rose and then did a web search. There’s a good wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousand-year_Rose) with links to other references.

I just read (well, skimmed) a Brookings Institute article that asks about land use in general. Trees are, and should be, part of land use, of course. (This is, after all, pretty much a plant-focused blog!) What I like about the article is that it takes a hard look (in a broad brushstroke sort of way) at many factors that could be tightened up in our sprawling lifestyle. It feels to me a bit like when someone notices that you’ve put on just a bit too much weight – the proverbial spare tire. Dieting isn’t fun but it does get results. At its most dramatic it may save your life. And, the sort of dieting proposed in this article may well save not only your life but the life of the planet.