On a recent Monday morning, Lisa Suhay was returning from her daily walk in her Larchmont neighborhood when she heard the chainsaws. She rounded a corner and saw workmen chopping limbs off a crape myrtle in front of her home. Panicking, she cried out:
Stop! Don’t you know what this tree is, she asked. What? Why are you doing this?
A man replied, she said, that he was just doing his job.
“I tried to explain to them it was a fairy tree,” Suhay said. “And they laughed at me.”
But, she wasn’t joking. The “Fairy Tree” at 1651 Longwood Drive — recognized by the Library of Congress — is where thousands of children every year write and leave letters addressed to the fairies who live in it, and the fairies always reply, usually within 24 hours, with handwritten notes. Sometimes, the fairies write upwards of 15 replies a night. It’s a lot of work, but their tree has become immensely popular.
Now, Suhay is concerned about the health of the Fairy Tree. Multiple limbs were removed by a tree trimming company subcontracted through the city’s Public Works department for a project. Neighborhood residents shared their frustration and sadness on social media about the pruning.
“Now with everything happening in this world, you don’t cut back on magic,” Suhay said. “You don’t cut back on the hopes of children, and they did.”
The Fairy Tree was born in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing protocols, stay-at-home orders and closings of schools, playgrounds and libraries. The Little Free Library in front of Suhay’s home became a popular destination for neighborhood children. The library box was shaped like a miniature house, and on one particular visit, 6-year-old Ellie Tomberlin walked past the box and right up to Suhay’s door, knocked and asked Suhay if fairies lived in the library house. The girl was assured: Yes, of course, they do.
“In fact,” Suhay told the girl, “they have come back to our world after a long absence to help us all find our happy thoughts that have been lost during the lockdowns.”
A few days later, Suhay, the author of 10 children’s books and a journalist who has written for The New York Times and The Christian Science Monitor, placed a “fairy door” on the crape myrtle, located next to the Little Free Library, with an accompanying message that invited people to write to the sprites in the tree.
In their first 10 months, the fairies received and replied to over 2,000 letters from children and adults; the tree became a favorite spot for Old Dominion University students who were suffering because of the isolation, and ultimately, the Fairy Tree helped save lives. Whenever the fairies received a suicide note, Suhay immediately contacted authorities. One former ODU student, who wrote such a letter, recently contacted Suhay.
“She said that she had gotten help and gone to counseling and was married now and about to have her first child and wanted to thank me.”
The Library of Congress named the crape myrtle a “Witness Tree” to the events of the pandemic, describing its importance as part of a Historic America Landscapes Survey: ” … the Fairy Tree has been both a witness and national source of comfort … The tree stopped an emotional bullet for thousands of children and adults … ”
But the letters to fairies did not end with the pandemic. Suhay was invited to talk about the tree on the popular “Kelly Clarkson Show” in 2022.
The fairies still reply to an average of 1,000 letters a year. The gardens surrounding Suhay’s home are transformed into an enchanted township filled with “fairyminiums” including a beehive structure where the fairy “Bee-Yonce” lives. The elf king “Eyal” rules over his people’s mushroom homes in the flowerbeds, and The Art Fairy curates a museum displaying drawings and paintings by children. Carved stone trolls and plastic dragons guard the realm because, Suhay said, “The boys were always talking about dragons; so, we got some for them.”
But, on this recent Monday, all the fairy homes were dusted by the debris of fallen limbs.
According to the city, a work order was issued June 21 to mill and pave Woodbury Avenue, Longwood Drive and Melrose Parkway and trimming is performed to prevent the machines from hitting tree branches. The company is accredited by the Tree Care Industry Association and Certified Tree Safety Professional with certified, staff arborists and trained personnel.
“All trees were trimmed according to standards for trimming trees,” the city stated, in an email to The Pilot.
However, Suhay contends the trimming went too far and has caused potential damage to the crape myrtles. Many limbs were cut 5 feet beyond the street curb. One limb on the Fairy Tree was cut to the trunk. According to a Virginia Cooperative Extension pruning guide, crape myrtles should be pruned in late winter or early spring because they are summer-blooming trees. The Fairy Tree was in bloom when cut, and Suhay said that she didn’t see an arborist on-site and wants the city to ensure one will be present for future pruning.
“My main thing is that I don’t want this to happen again, not just to the Fairy Tree but all of the crape myrtles,” she said. In the 1930s, more than 40,000 crape myrtles were planted in Norfolk to turn the city into the Crape Myrtle Capital of the World.
“They are such important trees to our city. People move here just because they love the way they look.”
Norfolk City Forester Steven Traylor did not respond to interview requests.
“If you think the Lorax was upset, then I’d say Fairy Queen Lysandra, who’s queen of all the Fae, is miffed,” Suhay said. “And I’d be the one to know.”
Colin Warren-Hicks, 919-818-8138, colin.warrenhicks@virginiamedia.com
