Three years ago the roof of our building was an empty space where nobody went. Then Mrs. Huang, who is seventy, carried up two pots and planted some beans. (11) By the end of that summer, six families had pots of their own. Now there are tomatoes in one corner and flowers along the wall. A spider lives between two pots, and nobody takes it down, (12) it keeps the small insects away. Children come up after school to look for it. (13), the roof is the only place in the building where every floor meets. Her husband helped her carry the pots. She says his plan was only to use the space, (14) a garden turned out to be about people.
A seed looks dead. You can keep one in a drawer for years and nothing will happen. (15) Water, heat, and dark together tell the seed that it is under the ground, and only then does it open. Some seeds wait far longer than a year. In England a seed found in an old building grew after two hundred years in a box. (16) nobody had given it water. Farmers have used this fact for a long time. They keep seeds dry so that the seeds stay asleep, (17) they can choose the day when growth begins. A seed is not really sleeping. It is waiting, (18) waiting is a kind of work.
Ann: I bought you a plant for your new room. The shop gave me this card.
| GREEN CORNER · Plant Card |
|---|
| Name: Money Tree |
| Water: once a week |
| Light: bright, but not direct sun |
| Grows to 80 centimeters |
Ken: Thank you! My window faces north, so the room is never very bright. Will it be all right?
Ann: That is better than a south window. Direct sun would burn the leaves.
Ken: Good. I will water it every Sunday so that I do not forget.
Saturday, March 9 · 9:00 to 16:00 · Free
The garden belongs to the people of the Republic of China and costs nothing to enter. A gardener will meet you at the gate; please follow him to the first walk.
Everything is free, but the children's activity has only forty pots. Families should gather at the north gate before eleven. Pots are given out in the order people arrive.
There is no restaurant inside the garden, so please bring your own lunch. Dogs and other pets must stay outside. If it rains, the two walks outside will move to the glass house, and the talk will go on as planned.
Dear Ping,
My family will be abroad from July 5 to July 20, and I am in trouble about my plants. Could you water them twice while we are away? There are only six pots, all on the balcony.
Please keep every pot away from the heater, and do not water the small one in the corner. It is from a dry place and dies if it gets too much water. The others need about one cup each. If a leaf turns brown, just take it off; do not worry.
I will leave the key with my neighbor below us. I can bring you something from England, so please tell me what you would like.
Thank you, Mei
When we look at a tree, we see the part above the ground. Yet in many trees, as much life lies below as above. Roots hold the tree in a storm, carry water, and store food for the winter.
Roots also talk to each other. Under a forest floor, thin lines join one tree to the next, and a strong tree can pass food to a weak one, even to a tree of another kind. A forest is less a crowd of single trees than one large living thing. In the end even a wolf in the hills or a shark in the sea depends on what plants make.
This is why moving a big tree so often fails. We can carry the body of the tree and the branches, but we cannot carry the lines it has built under the ground for fifty years. The tree that arrives at the new place is, in a way, not the same tree.