Sylvan Cities by Helen Babbs

Author:Helen Babbs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atlantic Books

My favourite storyteller about the lime is Etel Adnan. In her poetry she conjures up ‘gardens where, linden trees get ready for, a lunar voyage’, which makes me think of their energetic sprays of starburst flowers, and their tall, majestic forms, striving upwards. In ‘Linden Trees’, the picture Adnan paints is more startling – a lime’s tender leaves trembling like a ‘battered girl’ and its branches ‘snorting like a horse’. Although I associate this syrupy tree with summer weather that’s hot and still, this is how the lime looks and sounds when the weather is rough and ruinous. Or when a composer has wrapped his arms around it, electrifying music flowing right through him and it.

ANOTHER LIME WORTH KNOWING

The ornamental silver lime (Tilia tomentosa) has a domed shape and toothy, heart-shaped leaves that, unlike common lime’s, are pale and woolly underneath. This tree can flip its foliage in hot weather so that the white undersides reflect the sun, making it a good choice as our cities get hotter and drier. Its sugary nectar is soapy and strong; in fact it’s so powerful that it can incapacitate some insects. One of Romania’s most famous poets, Mihai Eminescu, is believed to have written some of his best work while sitting under a silver lime in the city of Ias¸i. The tree is still standing and, at around 500 years old, it has been called by Lonely Planet one of Romania’s most important natural monuments.

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