Backyard and Beyond

I have lately seen a few things on social media about the importance of street trees. The various “services” they provide: shade, clean air, beauty. Nobody ever mentions that even a tree stuck in a hardpan pit surrounded by concrete and pissing dogs is also an ecosystem, a microcosm. Ants running up and down the trunk. Aphids sucking plant juices and aphid-eaters patrolling the leaves in hopes of chomping down on or sucking up aphids. Galls wasps chemically manipulating the plant’s genes. Birds hunting, resting, grooming, nesting, pooping! Moths and butterfly laying eggs on the leaves, then caterpillars chewing those leaves. Spiders weaving. Katydids stridulating. Cicadas powering up their crescendos. A ttree trunk is also home to nature’s graffiti, fungi — look for the tiny little parasols of Mycena bonnet mushrooms — lichens, mosse. A tree is a host of hosts.