HOME IS WHERE YOUR TREES ARE : Page 6

The poet Joyce Kilmer averred that "only God can make a tree." But the god of trees is benevolent. He approves the burgeoning of die ailanthus, "Tree of Heaven," even in Brooklyn and other asphalt jungles. In the suburbs, in exurbia, at a new homesite carved into the wildwood or out of barren countryside, the dendrological deity is open-handed to any degree a patient man may ask. And this benevolence extends not only to new trees started from saplings. It applies also to mature trees whose growing needs were neglected by early owners but which are not too far deteriorated for revival. Giving older trees a new lease on life can be even more satisfying than planting and cultivating youngsters. The latter process is uneventfully natural. The former often borders on the miraculous.