Most of the trees I know are evergreen. But in the landscape are some imports that mark the seasons by dropping their leaves every year. Every year the dead trees as spring begins, suddenly, begin a resurrection. How do those trees know?
We may consider that the birds in their migration may have learnt when to fly,
Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD. (Jeremiah 8:7)
This only pushes the question further back, as to who taught the first bird to fly their annual route? Then why do some birds fly great distances in appointed times and others do not?
If birds have a brain to learn and they do learn, how is it the trees know their time? Who taught the trees, if they cannot learn?
The more plants are studied the more complex they are found to be.
Science of Plants
There is research on the value of melodic music to grape vines and some other inference that music may benefit plants. There is some research as to the value to kind words to plants.
In 2018 an Ikea study of bullied plants versus praised plants became famous.
The only difference was that one plant was spoken to negatively, while the other was showered with regular compliments. At the end of the period, there was a clear difference in how the plants looked. When Prince Charles once admitted that he likes to talk to his plants to help them grow, the comments were met with derision.
At the end of the month, the plant that had been on the receiving end of the negativity appeared visibly different, with drooping and dying leaves. Meanwhile, the plant that had been told nice things had thrived with a YouTube video showing a clear difference between the two flowers.
Private research inspired by the IKEA experiment replicated it and found evidence that negative discourse intended to instigate resentment and hostility affects plant growth rate.
They pointed to a 2018 study in South Korea that supports the notion that naturally occurring and artificially generated sound waves contribute to plant robustness.
Another study of 2013:"Our results show that plants are able to positively influence growth of seeds by some as yet unknown mechanism. We believe that the answer may involve acoustic signals generated using nanomechanical oscillations from inside the cell, which allow rapid communication between nearby plants," lead study author Monica Gagliano, a researcher at the University of Western Australia, said. Gagliano and her colleagues discovered that chili pepper seeds germinated poorly without neighboring plants nearby. More seedlings grew when a fellow chili plant or a basil was close by, even if the plants were cut off from all signaling except by vibration.
They found that at the very least plants can hear animals eating their leaves.
In 2014, researchers at the University of Missouri found that plants can “hear” the vibrations of caterpillars feeding on their leaves, and elicit chemical defenses in response. In 2019, another group of researchers, from Tel Aviv University, found that certain plants emit ultrasonic sounds when stressed. “Plants don’t have that part of intelligence that we call emotional intelligence,” Van Volkenburgh says. (She still keeps an open mind, though: “Who knows? We could be missing it.”) This applies to suffering, too. But it might be even more tempting to use language about the five basic senses to describe plants — even if it doesn't exactly translate. For example, Van Volkenburgh says, “Plants can detect light, but I don’t think you can say plants can ‘see.’” The same goes for hearing, tasting, feeling, smelling. A researcher there named David Rhoades discovered that plants, when wounded, emit “volatile compounds” as a kind of distress signal and warning to their neighbors. In other words, they could communicate their condition to other plants.
Rhoades’ work was genuinely scientific and, it seems, accurate. But when the popular press relayed it in terms of “talking trees” — a shade too close to sentience — establishment academics promptly sterilized the line of inquiry. “Those scientists could no longer get funded,” Van Volkenburgh says. “The subject became taboo.” In recent years, however, there’s been a resurgence of investigation into the idea that plants are intelligent in ways we’ve historically overlooked. discovermagazine
They asked 'Do plants Hear?'
Plants can perceive light, scent, touch, wind, even gravity, and are able to respond to sounds, too Cocroft says. “This indicates that the plants are able to distinguish feeding vibrations (from caterpillars) from other common sources of environmental vibration.” calacademy.org
In 2015 Chowdroy & Gupta of the School of Engineering, G D Goenka University in India found, music promoted the growth and development of the plants (marigold and Chickpea), including germination whereas noise hindered it. Possibly, specific audible frequencies and also musical frequencies facilitate better physiological processes like absorption of nutrients, photosynthesis, protein synthesis, etc. for the plant and this is observable in terms of increased height, higher number of leaves and overall more developed and healthier plants. researchgate.net
A 2016 study found that plants can feel.
It's something that plant lovers have long suspected, but now Australian scientists have found evidence that plants really can feel when we're touching them. Not only that, but different sensations trigger a cascade of physiological and genetic changes, depending on the stimulation the plants are receiving, whether it's a few drops of rain, or a little soft pat. Van Aken from the University of Western Australia found “plants appear to have developed intricate stress defence systems to sense their environment and help them detect danger and respond appropriately." sciencealert
The questions as to what plant's know keep arising, because if plants developed all this variety of complex capacity, how did they do it, if they cannot think in the first place? Humans use thought to develop new products to meet needs! Birds and animals have some cranial capacity to adapt. By what mechanism did the plant develop the abilities it has? By chance? An 'intricate' stress defence by chance, with no sentient ability at all?
Rejoicing trees?
The Bible speaks as if trees may rejoice and sing.
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The LORD reigneth. Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof: let the fields rejoice, and all that is therein. Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the LORD, because he cometh to judge the earth. (1Chron. 16:31-33)
But consider that the passage begins by saying that men speak to the nations. It may be an application of the analogy of human traits to the landscape. Yet we are told that the trees can praise!
Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:
Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars: Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl: Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth:
Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children: Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven. (Psalm 148:7-13)
The nations are likened to trees. Jews on the mountains of Israel will be like a great tree that God has planted.
In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell. And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it. (Ezekiel 17:23-24)
At the fall of Babylon, the trees are said to rejoice. These may be the 'tree nations'.
The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. (Isaiah 14:7-8)
But beyond analogy, there is a sense that the Creator not only works with people but always also with the physical landscape and trees.
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. (Isaiah 55:11-13)
We may not see the 'brain' of the tree, but then again we cannot see the wind either.
In the time of Judgement Yahweh Elohim of Israel targets the land also, so that the landscape reflects the state of the people.
The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men. (Joel 1:12)
When Israel are removed from the land, the land is made desolate of plants. When Jews return the Holy land is slowly turned again to green again. There is a very strong pattern that the Creator has power over the life of trees, in the same way He has power over the life of humans. As the Creator sustains the life of humans, He also sustains the life of trees. As Yahweh Elohim makes humans rejoice at his good so may the trees rejoice, which means that the trees as created have the capacity to rejoice.
The Design of Life
From the very beginning in Eden, Adam and Eve were given a garden. New research is finding there is huge value in good physiological outcomes in humans in Biophilia. Human love helps plants to grow unstressed, and plants help humans have lower stress levels.
We might be able to explain the human feeling, but how do the trees know to grow? Consider.
If plants cannot think, and have no capacity to think and know, they must be programmed. If they are programmed, then there is a programmer, as information cannot arise from nothing. If plants have some form of 'plant-thinking', it still leaves the question as to how they obtained it. The question is not a small matter as the 'plant-thinking' is not in one type but many types, because some trees flower then produce leaves, and other produce leaves first, and others again always have leaves. The trees producing flowers and fruit raises the most complex of issues- which came first the most extraordinary varieties of tree or the unique seeds that make the extraordinary variety of trees?
The most unanswered question of the universe is the child's question, 'which came first the chicken or the egg?' The Bible has an answer all the birds, the hen and the rooster were made on the 5th day. Then on the 6th day the Man and the Woman were made. But plants were made back on the 3rd day, when all the variates of trees bearing fruit were made.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. (Genesis 1:11)
Given this point that Yahweh Elohim of Israel as a Super Intelligence source is capable of more than programming, we might consider that He created the trees as more knowing than we may think.
Could the Bible teach us that God works in all life, day to day? He may work with the lives of plants hands-on and He blesses them as He see fits as the Great Gardener.
Trees of Israel: Desert to forest in one Generation
At the very least we have evidence in the modern history of the revival of trees of Israel, which fulfil the words of the God of the Bible.
If ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass: And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits. (Leviticus 26:18-20)
We are told there will be a time of great blessing on trees because of the good showered on a repentant revived Israel
I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. (Ezekiel 34:25-27)
Imagine if the dry land of Israel has rain and the trees grow to their full potential and in addition we can sleep in a forest with no fear at all! No nasty ants, deadly mosquitoes, wolves, bears or lions!
Knowing the Times
Do the trees know their time because they were told from the beginning of creation when they first bore fruit, or because they are being told to burst forth with bud year to year or both? Do we know what causes the earth to spin about the sun to give seasons? What do we know and what are the limits of our knowledge if we are only beginning to think to find out what plants may 'know'?
Could the Bible be literally correct in saying plants and trees can rejoice? We are told the fullness of the trees are part of the manifold riches of the work of Yahweh Elohim on the earth,
The trees of the LORD are full; the cedars of Lebanon, which he has planted; Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.
O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. (Psa 104:16-17,24)
We may now consider, and speak of love and truth to our plants, as every good gardener knows that all plants respond to care. But then we may imagine the promise of the Bible! We can imagine how well all the plants will grow when Yahweh reigns and the whole world is full of the gladness of justice, mercy and truth – that is the Glory of God!
Say among the nations that Yahweh (He who will be) reigns: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice (Psalm 96:10-12)
