Yes plant and especially tree spirits have sentience enough to interact with people and build friendships and other types of relationships.
“other types of relationships” ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Country witches make do
I think intelligence is a very subjective term. I think that the limits of biology are not the limits of consciousness. A tree does as it does. Never assume the tree is the one having the misunderstanding. You will never know how to turn your leaves to the sun without muscles.