The London Plane Tree in the Playground, October 22 2007
The Passage of Time from the Perspective of a Tree
Fall foliage?
The trees in the Park stubbornly refused to turn color this fall, save for a few reliable maples. The others stayed green, and then lost their leaves altogether.
Self-seeders
Most park trees are planted, planned by landscapers and bought at great expense from nurseries when they are large enough to survive the tough life of a city tree. But then there are the self-seeders - renegades who care nothing for the blue prints, the planting plans, the grand vision of the famous landscaper. A bird poops or a forgetful squirrel misplaces a nut, and a seed is planted. Then miraculously, in a park where thousands of feet tread everyday, it grows to a size where it can no longer be stepped on. A stand of cherry trees, an errant oak. Nature staging a coup upon our best laid plans!
Many of the black cherry trees along the western hill-slopes of the park are self-seeded, as well as many of the trees on the slopes behind the visitor's center.
Linden Tree, July 7, 2007
Under the cascading crown of the silver linden is a quiet private world where few people spend time.
The London Plane Tree in the Playground, July 7, 2007
This London plane tree stands so elegantly amidst the constant buzz of the playground. I like the way it looks in the early morning and in the evening, when the bustle of the day has yet to start or has just ended.
Chinese Scholar Tree and Ginkgo Biloba, July 27, 2007
Its unclear why this ginkgo tree (the small one on the right) and Chinese scholar tree (the larger one on the left) were planted so close together, but I like to think that perhaps they are friends, overlooking the activities on the grassy field below together.
The Amur Cork Tree July 7, 2007
Some trees get to know people better than others, like the Amur cork tree, the most popular climbing tree in the park. In the summer, at some point during the day you can always find someone sitting in its branches, as I did on this day. It’s bark is luxuriantly deep and thick. While it is corky in texture, this particular species of cork tree is not used for sealing wine bottles.
The Crown of a London Plane Tree, July 7, 2007
The crowns of the big London plane trees by the monument are like arboreal palaces. They inspire me to become a squirrel so I can spend my life in their branches, which seem more of the sky than the earth. This is the view at the trunk looking up.
The English Elm, July 7, 2007
This English elm is one of the oldest and grandest trees in the park. Based on its size, it’s likely that it was planted in the era of Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux, who designed the park in 1867. This tree may be over 140 years old!
I wanted to photograph a day in the life of this tree, since it presides over so much: tee-ball games, dogs frolicking, soccer in the evenings, high school track team practice. It is a shelter for picnickers and afternoon relaxers.
Elms in the US have been wiped out by Dutch Elm’s disease, but trees like this English elm have survived with careful monitoring from the Parks department. Olmstead loved elms and the few large old elms in this park are likely of his legacy.
The passage of time from the perspective of a tree.
What is the pace of life of a tree? It seems it must be slow, since it can live for hundreds of years. But a young tree can grow faster than a young child, and a tree is changing all the time. Its cells are differentiating into bark and wood, transporting sugars and minerals up and down its trunk, photosynthesizing, budding, and healing its wounds. It is alive just like us, but the difference is that it neither moves nor talks. It stays rooted to one place and silently grows while everything around it moves -- the sun, the seasons, the people, the wind, the birds. It lives through the same days and month and years that we do, but perhaps in its stillness it notices more.
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I decided to document a day in the life of a tree. I picked some of my favorite trees, and photographed them every hour from dawn till dusk. What follows are video slideshows of these photographs.
Broken branch of a Raintree
The structure of a golden raintree’s wood, revealed when a large limb broke in late June. 
Bark
The skin of a tree.
Here are: the characteristic camouflaged bark of the London plane (and one with lips!), the furrowed base of a very very old English elm, the warty skin of a hackberry, and the green-gray of the Japanese zelcova flaking away to reveal orange inner bark beneath.
What does the world look like from the perspective of a tree
Pictures taken from the ironwood tree on the south side of the tennis courts.
The old silver linden
I started out just taking pictures of trees I have always found particularly compelling - trees with a particular character or presence - like this old silver linden. I am not the only one who likes it; it is one of the most popular trees in the park for climbing. The Parks Department singles out this resilient old linden in its report on Fort Greene Park, stating that "The silver linden is split and hollow, has many exposed roots, and has undergone many 'salvaging' measures including cabling, cementing the cavities, and wrapping wire around the trunk to prevent the cavity from filling with garbage. The tree continues to thrive."
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