(Note to Barflies - this is the downstairs edition and is open to everyone).
Operation Secret Mango Tree is back in business.
There's an empty planter where the village has it's 500+ year old mango trees behind the pond. For several years now, I've tried to get a tree grown from one of the seeds of one of the ancient trees to grow there.
The results:
3 trees disappeared.
A pair (decided to double my odds of a survivor) ripped out.
I replanted them, but they died.
A new pair (thanks to a fellow village who jumped over the wall and climbed down into the mostly drained pond (major pond maintenance and redecoration is ongoing) to get a couple of seedings from beneath one of the overhanging trees. Those were planted and were doing ok.
Then someone came through spraying herbicide.
One died, The other lost all leaves, but its stalk remained green.
Then they dug a trench right through the planter. Missed the tree, but the dirt had it 2/3 buried. I dug out the excess dirt. Two days later, the deepened the trench and I had to dig it out again. Thankfully, whoever refilled the trench got the hint that someone was protecting that tree.
A few days ago, it started to bud. It looks like it will be getting new leaves in a few days.