Journal June 20, 2013

Lazarus, that is what I am going to name this olive tree.  The photo above is of one of the Trilye seedlings that I received from Turkey last winter that were dead on arrival.

They were lost in transit, and were almost a month stuffed into an envelope without water or light.  A few days after being removed from the envelope, all of the leaves dried completely and fell off. 

Still, I did not give up hope, but potted them and cared for them for two months before giving it up as a lost cause.  On my way to the trash can with the seedlings, I pushed my thumb nail into the bark and I could see that the cambium layer beneath the bark still had a green tinge.  

Thinking that it could not hurt, and there was nothing really to lose, I decided to plant them in the garden under the blueberry bushes.  Periodically, I would check them for signs of life, but never found any.  

Call it intuition, or sixth sense, but as I was working in the greenhouse today, I got a feeling that I had to check on the "dead trees."  I was literally dumbfounded when I saw the green buds sprouting from one the trees.

So, I thought that Lazarus would be an appropriate name for this tree; as it has literally returned from the dead.