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--- identity_of_trees_walks [2014-08-28 19:06] – [*Wild chestnut] rasa
+++ identity_of_trees_walks [2014-08-28 20:00] (current) – [* Plane, plataan, platane, Platanus – all together they form the Brussels' Court of Peace] rasa
@@ Line 562: / Line 562: @@
-==== *Imaginary tree Dansart ====
+==== *Imaginary tree rue Dansaertstraat ====
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-==== *Platanus the Court of justice ====
+For those who witnessed the leak in the water pipe under this street some years ago, it is not a surprise you don't find any trees at this side of the rue Dansaert. Therefore we invite you to imagine your own tree, one that can be of help for future generations of this city.
+What tree did you think of while walking here? And why?
+And would you consider it to resist to the criteria of today's choices for planting trees in the cities?
+It is no coincidence that the actual trees in the city are very different species to the ones we find in the forest. There are only a few types of trees that can survive in the city. This depends on several factors: their resistance to salt (in winter), vandalism, pollution, pressure on their root systems, and also the conditions of various pipelines under the roads (gas, water, electricity, metro…).
+The beech, the poplar, the willow and many types of fruit trees have crawling roots, that can be visible at the surface. These trees are highly sensitive. It is important that their roots are not damaged, because these wounds serve as large entrance gates for all kind of illness agents. Parking cars, cutting the grass, playing at their roots will asphyxiate them. Water and a lot of air in the soil are needed to guarantee their metabolism. This said, a lot of citizens don't like this type of trees for a very different reason: the leaves and the fruits that fall of in autumn.
+// Take a picture of your tree, write down its specificities, turn it into story that you can tell to yourself or your friend while walking back to Vieux Marché aux Grains for the last series of trees. //
+==== * Plane, plataan, platane, Platanus – all together they form the Brussels' Court of Peace ====
 {{:platanen.jpg?200|}}
+Please meet the toughest of all trees, the planes. These trees do resist smoothly to any kind of pullution, vandalism and root pressure. If they happen to be damaged or attacked, they react as snakes do: they grow a new skin and let go of the old jacket. They are abundantly present in Brussels, because people appreciate their presence very much.
+In a more negative way, one could compare these trees to plastic living beings. Opposite to most trees, they do not go into symbiosis with other species. This is due to the fact that none of the fungi, insects or other friends migrated with them to the North.
+These planes are hybrids of Western and Eastern planes.
+Therefore, the planes seem to be a beautiful metaphor for people who arrive in Brussels and for the openness of inhabitants towards them. We all resist the sometimes unfortunate conditions of this place, most of us arrived alone or in company of soulmates, and it takes time to get into other symbiosis than what we grew up with. But more than any other tree, planes bring with them new perspectives, flexible living, sweet shades, nice sounds and the breeze of mediterranean plazas.
+Therefore we baptized the trees of this square as the new wise people, always ready to advise and share, if only we are ready to listen to them.
+// Whenever necessary, you can make a fist, whisper your problem into it, put your hand on the bark of one of the planes, and listen carefully to their answer. Do not forget to thank the tree when you leave. //
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