Those who have a longtime experience of the Laura of blessed Sabas know that not even in the open air, in a garden, does a fig-tree – or any, other tree – grow, because of the hotness and dryness of the climate of the Laura; and if one should cite way of example the trees of the small coenobium of the Laura, that grow alongside the road, he should know that those are the result of blessed Sabas’ prayers: for he found a deep bed of soil, plenty of rain water in the ravine and (had the assistance) of the fathers of the small coenobium itself, who water the trees during the winter with the water of the torrent. And indeed many tried to plant trees along the torrent bed, where there is a deep layer of soil, but though they water the plants during the whole winter, every year these have hardly the strength to stay alive owing to the excessive dryness of the climate, as I said, and to the vehemence of the seasonal heat.
(transl. Leah Di Segni)