tod

In all the years I have been coming to Paris my one pilgrimage was to sit under the willow tree on the very end of Ile de la Cite and watch the river traffic.
This last May however I was horrified to see just a tree stump!
Maybe Dave-in-Paris or another "Parisienne" can tell me why it was cut down? Has anyone else noticed this?

Dave_in_Paris

Tod,

Many trees in Paris suffered in the heat wave of two summers ago and some never did recover, but as for your willow, I don't know. Sophie, do you have a thought?

tod

Thanks Dave-in-Paris.
My special tree was very healthy and I imagine had all the water it could handle being right on the Seine.
Maybe it's roots were interferring with the stone work? I wish I knew why they took a chainsaw and very neatly sliced it off at the base.

Dave_in_Paris

It's easy to imagine how you feel. We live on a busy steet in the 11th arrondissement that's lined with mature trees -- beeches, maybe, though I don't know my trees. When they're in leaf and we're seated in the living room, we see nothing from its two windows but green. It's like being in the country! If we lost those trees we'd be heartbroken. We actually watered them during the heat wave! It probably made no difference but it made us feel better.

Dave_in_Paris

Several years ago, Amy Hollowell of the International Herald Tribune wrote a lovely op-ed article about the trees of Paris. I'll see if I can find that, and perhaps she can tell us who to ask about your willow's fate.

tod

How kind of you. I was almost on the point of writing to the offices of the Mayor of Paris to find out the reason it's gone. Every guide book has a picture of Pont Neuf from the Seine and the beautiful willow tree with it's drooping branches.

Christina

That point is very prone to flooding, and I would think it might have been damaged more from floods or storms -- maybe it just got old and sick. It wasn't the heat wave of the summer 2003 as it was already gone by March 03, as I read a report one the Mairie's web site about plans to replant that tree, and that report was dated 3/13/03. It is part of the "plan vert" of that area to replant the weeping willow and some other vegetation on that point.

If you really want to ask, you should probably write to the mayor of the 1st arrondisement, not of Paris.

Dave_in_Paris

Don,

The Direction des Parcs, Jardins et Espaces Verts is responsible for some 478,000 trees in Paris, along public routes, in parks and gardens, cemeteries, and the Bois de Vincennes and Bois de Bologne. This is a city office, with a subbureau called the Service des Arbres. The Marie of Paris has several pages devoted to trees posted on the Web, with a portal page at: http://www.paris.fr/fr/environnement.../default.aspat

The arrondissement mayors' offices would be involved in creation or improvement of green spaces. Who would make the decision about an individual tree? I'll try the press office number on that site tommorrow, and ask. As for flooding, would a willow be troubled by it, since it is a species that dwells near streams?

Sue4

tod, I too love to sit there to rest weary feet, and I well remember that beautiful willow. I'm sure there are many unhappy people now that it's just a stump. How sad.

tod

christina - Thanks for the input. I was surprised it was felled so long ago in 2003.
Sue4 - SO glad someone else loved that tree!
I'm sure Dave-in-Paris will solve the mystery.

Dave_in_Paris

Tod,

When did you find it gone? And when did you last see it standing?

Dave_in_Paris

The arviches of Le Parisien and Le Monde seem to contain no mention. The former newspaper, in particular, covers Paris in something of an "American" style, and would have been the most likely, I believe.

tod

Hi, I last saw it standing when my mother and I were in Paris May/June 2000. She took a picture of me sitting at the base. On closer inspection of the photo I notice a large root on the surface which is completely hollow!
To guage the trees size, it would have taken a man with long arms to go around it's circumference.
I saw the remains of it in May/June 2004. The stump was very neatly sawn off and was quite a pale yellow, which to me looked like a recent felling. In other words it had not gone grey and weathered.
There are other willows on the same quai-side of about the same size.

Dave_in_Paris

Tod,

I've e-mailed the press service of the Pairs mayor's office to see if they can put me in contact with someone who knows. It may help that I'm a journalist -- or maybe not. I'll let you know.

Dave

Dave_in_Paris

Just a guess, from the size and the age that it would imply, and your observation of hollow root, that they may have feared the tree would fall at some point and cause injury. I'll let you know whether I receive any official information. It seems that a large number of Paris trees are "coded" individually, with computer records of anything done to or for them!

tod

Hi again,
I don't know if this may shed some light, but I telephoned Taverne Henri IV, 13 Place du Pont-Neuf. Tel: 143542790 hoping that I would get someone who speaks English. They are located (according to my Eyewitness Travel Guide) right there at 13 Pl.du Pont Neuf, so may have had some info. Unfortunately a French chap answered the phone and did not understand when I asked him if he knew what happened to the tree at the end of Sq.Vert-Galant.
I then thought about Le Bar which I think is a sort of barge moored permernantly to Quai de L'Horloge if Taverne Henri couldn't help.
What do you think?

Dave_in_Paris

Tod,

It has occurred to me that someone "on-site" might have some information. Fixing to check that!

Dave

Dave_in_Paris

Tod,

I visited the site -- on a gray, not-so-cold afternoon with the bookstalls open and the peniches bobbing ever so slightly in the Seine. The fencing and signs have all the look of a city of Paris park, and I think it's the Marie of Paris that will provide the official answer, if one is forthcoming. There are no cafes or restaurants within shouting distance. I did, however, chat with the ticket-seller at the Vedettes du Pont Neuf, the smallest (and cutest) of the Seine boat-tour companies, close by the site, just east of it, on the Quay d'Horloge. Yes, she remembers
your tree. To the best of her recollection it came down in September 2003. She dates this by her vacation. It was there when she left and gone when she returned. The tree was leaning seriously, she says -- in her opinion falling very, very slowly. She also wonders if the tremendous August heat may have been a factor. I shared the site with six adorable water birds and two young willows that appear to have been recently planted. Your assignment: Live long enough to enjoy those trees when they're grown!

Respectfully submitted.

Detective Dave

tod

Thank you, thank you! What trouble you have gone to just to solve "The Mystery of The Missing Willow"!!
I shall be returning to Paris most likely in May next year and Vert Galant will be my first port of call to see the new saplings.
Once again, Merci Dave-in-Paris!

Sue4

Dave-in-Paris, you have what it takes to be a good journalist! I, too, thank you for the info on that lovely tree. I'll be looking forward to seeing the saplings grow, too, Tod. Whenever I'm in Paris, I love to take a Vedettes du Pont Neuf cruise, and that's a great spot to sit to wait for the next cruise.