MELANCHOLY APPEARANCE?
The following is adapted from my book, The Ever Curious Gardener: Using a Little Natural Science for a Lot Better Garden, available from the usual outlets or, signed, from me (www.leereich.com/books).
Growing Down
Why are these trees so sad — even with pink or white blossoms cheering up their branches? But of course: they’re not really sad, they’re just weeping.
So why are these trees weeping, then, even if they are not sad?
They weep because they want to grow down. Instead of young stems reaching for the sky, as is the case with most trees, young stems of weeping trees toy only briefly with skyward growth before arching gracefully down towards the earth. Some plants begin to weep in earnest only after they get some age to them. Read more
