- December 25, 2024
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William Ruff planted a maple tree 15 years ago at his home on Birchfield Place. “The base of it was about the size of my thumb,” he recalled. By last year, it had grown to an estimated 70 feet, towering over his home.
And then, on Dec. 14, 2013, it came crashing down in the tornado.
Ruff said the winds also wrecked his roof, which had to be replaced, as well as his storage shed, cedar trees and the bathroom window. His insurance took care of most of the items, but on April 26, he visited Fire Station 23, on Belle Terre Parkway, to pick out a free seven-gallon tree, as a replacement for his 15-year-old tree.
The city sent a letter offering a free tree to Ruff and the 240 other residents whose homes sustained damage. About 60 took advantage, according to the city’s urban forester on staff, Carol Mini, who was there to offer planting and care advice.
The rest of the trees that were not claimed will be added to the group to be given away to residents (in exchange for canned food or a pet food item) beginning at 9 a.m. May 3, at the city’s annual Arbor Day event in Town Center. Call 986-3722 for details.
Ruff is looking forward to planting his tree. He said he loves the idea that he is enriching the air with more oxygen and adding beauty to the earth. He said, “It just feels better that there is a tree in your backyard.”
I think that’s what intrigued me about this event in the first place. I agree that, somehow, it just feels better. But why? What’s so great about trees?
Chet Henry is a landscaper for the city, and he helped residents load their trees into their vehicles April 26. He said the landscaping sends a message to people that the people in Palm Coast care about their city.
“You can go 100 miles north or 100 miles south, and other cities aren't really into their landscaping like the city of Palm Coast,” he said.
Mini agreed, adding that the tree giveaway was the city’s way of fulfilling its promise to help those impacted by the tornado.
She said trees can affect people’s moods. "I can have a crazy day, but I can walk out the building, and sit on a bench and see the trees and hear the birds chirping, and it gives me a sense of calm,” she said.
I feel lucky that my commute keeps me in Palm Coast. Because of the parade of trees, I never speed on my way to work.
Trees are chaotic: No two, even two of the same species, have identical bark texture or branch arrangement. Limbs and leaves twist and spring out from the trunk seemingly at random. The variety is infinite and beautiful, like the waves in the ocean. You can watch them slide past your car windows one by one and never see all there is to see, even if you drive the same city streets every day, like I do.
To me, the landscaping we see around us represents a human impulse dating back to the Garden of Eden: to subdue the earth. When we create a landscape, we impose order on the chaos of nature, transforming soil and roots and branches into living art. When we plant trees, we are making sense of the earth, turning mystery into fable, an illusion that we control the elements.
And it is certainly an illusion because, no matter how meticulously we cultivate and prune and fertilize and irrigate and rake away the leaves, we are still only a tornado away from waking up to fallen maples.
But in the meantime, people like William Ruff will continue to do the honest, hard work that man has done through the ages: dig a hole and secure a young tree in the soil, tend to our little gardens and breathe in that rich air.
