People who leave an area and move to a new place are called immigrants. Sometimes we refer to them as “transplants”, a term usually used for plants. When trees are first transplanted they experience shock when set into their new locations. The uprooting process is traumatic, so the planter must make choices about how to help the tree survive, establish itself and then, eventually, to thrive. The first choice is to plant the tree where conditions are somewhat similar to those for which it is best adapted.
The next step can seem brutal, as the planter drastically cuts back the branches and trims damaged roots, insuring the tree’s energy will be directed underground to grow a healthy root system essential to its survival. The ground in which the tree is planted must also be prepared to accept and nurture the new tree. Dig the hole too deep or narrow, and the tree will strangle itself. Mix too much fancy soil into the hole, and the pampered tree will suffer more shock as its roots grow out of their cushy surroundings into the native soil.
Children harvesting wheat.
Too much fertilizer and the tree will quickly outgrow its root system, then die of thirst because it can’t draw enough water to satisfy its greedy leaves. Given a little help and the right start, the tree assumes responsibility for its persistence. It adapts in uncountable ways to its surroundings, unique but fitting the landscape as if it were always there. In time its mere presence will alter its own habitat, changing its adopted home simply by living, reproducing, and dying there.
