Tree Quiz

Zelkova

With branches spread like a fan, you rest fully in winter and, like hard wood, keep your shape.

Sheds them in winterGrow down deepHolds its shape

The zelkova — keyaki in Japanese — is a deciduous tree that spreads its branches in a fan shape, like an upturned broom. In fall it turns yellow or reddish brown, and in winter it drops its leaves and rests. Its wood is hard with a beautiful grain, and it has gone into the pillars of temples and shrines, mortars for pounding rice cakes and the bodies of taiko drums.

Zelkova is known for rooting deeply, and it too has been planted around homes as a windbreak. Just as it drops its leaves in winter, you rest properly when it's time to rest, and use that time to firm up your preparations for the next season.

Zelkova wood is said to warp less if it's left to dry for a long time after cutting before it's used. Once you've settled on a shape, you don't let it crumble easily. On the other hand, when you have to fit your switch between resting and working around other people's schedules, it can take you some time.

Strengths

You can draw a clear line between times to work and times to rest
You can lock in your preparations early for what's coming
Once you've decided on something, you can see it through in the same form to the end

Where you may stumble

Invited out on a day you'd set aside for rest, you're torn about saying no
Sticking to the shape you decided on, you put other people's ideas on the back burner
You spend so long preparing that you get a late start

Sounds familiar, Zelkova?

Your calendar says, plain as day, “This day: nothing”
On the first day back after a break, you knock out every errand that piled up
You can talk passionately about how to look after tools you've used for years

Where you shine

Milestone events, or finishing something meant to last a long time. Your approach of firming up your preparations, then moving all at once, tends to bear fruit here.

Tips for “Zelkova”

When you set a rest day, also decide what you'll do if someone invites you out
When you hear someone's idea, look for one part that fits your own shape
Once you're 70 percent prepared, set your start date right away

Matches

See every match in the Tree Quiz compatibility chart →

Easy together

Evergreen Oak — The Evergreen Oak also roots deeply and has hard wood. While the Zelkova drops its leaves and rests, the Oak, green all year, keeps taking the wind at its usual pace, so the Zelkova can rest easy.

Easy together

Japanese Maple — The Japanese Maple also drops its leaves in winter and has hard wood. When the Maple, who can act on the spot, tries something out a step ahead, the Zelkova, who prepares before moving, finds it easier to decide when to begin.

May clash

Palm Tree — The Palm Tree keeps the same pace all year and fits itself to whatever shape the place calls for. With the Zelkova, which sets its seasons of rest and prepares so it can keep its shape, neither their ways of planning nor their ways of compromising tend to mesh.