Last 4 Ficus leave 4th Street:

Yesterday, I discovered to my sorrow that the last 4 Ficus trees prepared for relocation (death?) had been removed from 4th Street in the night. They are now in the same lot as their 3 companions- ironically, this lies directly opposite City Hall, enabling their captors to gloat over their prisoners. Many surveys have been done proving scientifically that trees communicate- here are some examples tracked down by Treesaver Louise Steiner:

" Science has known for some time that trees are able to communicate with each other in several ways. Rapid communication can occur downwind by releasing chemicals called pheromones into the air from the leaves. Slower communication can take place using similar chemicals through their root systems. But now a physicist in Oregon has accidentally found yet another way trees communicate with each other and very rapidly.

Ed Wagner was studying the flow of sap in trees and started finding voltage readings in the trees. With more research, he discovered that trees generate a standing wave formation that not only travels in the tree, but also through the air to other trees. These waves, he finds, correlate with what the tree is experiencing. The blow of an axe not only causes a tree to send out strong waves, but the surrounding trees respond with a similar, but less emphatic reaction."

Let's hope that our trees can support each other....

The image below shows the 4 new uprooted trees still in their crates. In the background on the extreme left is the still unplanted ficus from the first relocation- the one with the parking meter.