The Tree
It has towered over the neighbourhood for almost two centuries. Passers-by notice it during the day; some know it mostly at night.
Alexander van Diana
Alexander van Diana arrives in Bulle in the early 19th century. A Dutch migrant, quiet and observant. He does not try to blend in, but to leave a mark. So he plants a sequoia, enormous, out of step with the rest of the town.
He has no idea an epic is about to begin. The sequoia stands for time, for roots chosen deliberately, and for faith in something greater than a single human life.
Timeline
- 1821
Alexander van Diana plants a young giant sequoia brought from Rotterdam, on the corner of what will become the square.
- 1923
The town puts up a fence around the Tree. Four generations of landscape gardeners will look after it.
- 1987
The Tree is listed in the cantonal inventory of remarkable trees.
- 2016
On a Bénichon night, four friends stop under the Tree on their way home. They never really left. The Brotherhood is founded.
- 2019
A report by the parks department notes unusually vigorous foliage on the street side, without being able to explain it.
- Today
The Tree receives several visits a week on average, mostly at weekends between 1 and 3 a.m.
Fact sheet
- Species
- Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum)
- Height
- 38 m
- Girth
- 7.20 m at 1.30 m above ground
- Estimated age
- About 200 years
- Aspect
- North-west, out of sight
- Soil
- Rich, regularly fertilised
- Water needs
- More than met