Strange choices

Long, long time ago in the other blockchain that_shall_not_be_named I had a short series of posts or photos (cannot remember correctly anymore) called "Survivors". It was all about the tiny little plants sprouting in the weirdest places. Most of them would pop in the middle of a road, tree stump or would grow on the side of the wall. You get the idea.

And then I stopped posting them and kind of forgot the whole thing.

Until I saw this one!

This is a small wild Geranium (Geranium purpureum I am guessing) growing on the dead cork oak tree. It maybe would be a strange thing if it was a normal tree with normal bark. You know the corks that you get in wine bottles? They are made directly from the bark, which is very light and doesn't hold much water.

Yet, some plants and mosses do manage to grow on it.
I can imagine it is a very short life though. It is a common weed around and when they grow in the soil the leaves are green and bigger. Multiple flowers bloom and produce seeds.

The seeds for this one were probably dragged by the wind, got stuck in some crack in the bark and managed to sprout with some winter and spring rains. But as soon as the rains stop the bark dries up completely. The plant will probably dry soon too. They grow quite fast the little time it had was enough to produce a few seed pods. That's what you see on the photos at the end of the long stems.

Then they will release the seeds and as soon as the rains come again, the cycle repeats.