One Ginkgo tree planted at Maitreya Institute Loenen, Netherlands

On July 6, on the birthday of the Dalai Lama, one Ginkgo tree was planted at Maitreya Institute in Loenen, the Netherlands.

Pia shares her story with us.

“My husband and I received the tree as a gift on the day of our wedding, back in October 2019. Since then, we have been looking for the right place and the right time to plant the tree. Inspired by Ösel Hita’s Global Tree Initiative, we realized that we can potentially plant the tree on the Dalai Lama’s birthday!

We got in touch with Annelies van der Heijden, and asked if we could plant the tree at the institute in Loenen. She kindly connected us to Paula Matthijsse, who went out of her way to assist us and make our wish come true!” Pia tells us.

Paula invited Pia and her husband to the center where they enjoyed a delicious lunch together, had a tour around the institute, and then planted the tree together.

Paula and Anrich preparing the soil

The garden at Maitreya Institute is beautiful and full of life and biodiversity! For more than one decade, Paula has been carefully planning the garden. The garden has a variety of fruit trees, edible bushes, shrubs, and plants.

Paula explained that she is very selective with the plants she keeps in the garden, and what she removes as weeds. Certain plants attract certain animals, which helps to maintain the biodiversity of the garden.

Biodiversity in the garden

Thank you very much, Pia, for telling us about the tree you planted. And, a special thank you to everyone at Maitreya Institute Loenen for offering the space to plant this tree!

If you are in the Netherlands, you are invited to visit the center and enjoy the friendliness of the staff and the beautiful garden. And, check out the Maitreya Institute website and learn about all the projects they are running.

Below, some more photos of the tree-planting