19/06/2024
‘I can’t tell you how happy I am to be growing up again! About two years ago, in a previous life, I was trembling to my very roots about to go under the knife. Let me explain.
For many, many years according to our collective memory, my family tree had been happily growing in Webster’s courtyard garden. My new sibling branches grew stronger each spring, clothing themselves in luxurious green leaves preparing for a fruitful summer – a true Garden of Eden. Every year we produced round, juicy figs for our green fingered carers. Then we settled down for the winter after our annual autumn clean to await patiently the rites of our next spring.
Then catastrophe struck! I was suddenly cut off from my family along with several of my brothers and sisters and cast into a world surrounded by strangers.
The whispers from the tree community, our local grapevine, recounted a sad tale. Apparently not long after our departure excavators and bulldozers stormed in and destroyed my family and friends. Some sort of gas installation now occupies the site of my former home.
It took me a long time to get over this disaster. I was alone in a small pot outside in a strange garden, shivering in a cold winter, covered in snow and very wet at times. But I wasn’t going to be felled. I remained strong, determined to survive and continue the family line. I struggled hard to put down new roots and was rewarded with a new leaf or two and eventually a tiny fruit. But all wasn’t green in the garden the following winter and I got frostbite in the top of my finger, which I lost. Although I looked poorly, my roots were strong and with some sunshine and fortified drinks I progressed rapidly. Now I am clothed in green and producing new branches and feeling much happier.
The best bit of this tale is that I have been reunited with four of my brothers and sisters and you’ll never guess where! Yes, that’s right we have all been returned to our courtyard to continue the family line and we look forward to a blooming, fruitful future just a matter of yards from our old home'.
WEBSTER’S FIG TREE LIVES ON! - Ann Lindsay - WHC Trustee, July 2021
The fig trees have now been repotted. Perhaps you may spot them making an appearance for Wirksworth Open Gardens by the entrance to the Centre....
Wirksworth Open Gardens Discover Wirksworth Live Wirksworth Love Local
