Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now, we say a final goodbye to the year of trees on the Brian Lehrer Show. It was a year ago that Marielle Anzelone, urban ecologist and founder of New York City Wildflower Week, brought us the idea and she's guided us through the forest. As many who've been listening to, figuratively and literally through the forest, for everyone who has joined her on the walks she has conducted. That's what she does in person.

She's here for a few more minutes for some final thoughts on this series, and most importantly, to share some of the many haikus we've received that we've invited you to submit about any tree in your life for this final episode. Hello again, Marielle, and thank you again, Marielle.

Marielle Anzelone: Hi. Good morning, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: I will read my haiku to kick this off. You came up with the idea as a way of appreciating our trees to write some of the haikus in the voice of a tree. This Callery pear tree I've been following in Upper Manhattan, I guess we could say wrote this haiku to me and it goes,

Why New York City?

Don't I belong in the woods?

Oh well, a nice block.

Marielle Anzelone: [laughs] That's great.

Brian Lehrer: Do you have one?

Marielle Anzelone: I do. My haiku is inspired by the pin oak tree that I've been following that's on a busy corner in Brooklyn.

Feeding multitudes,

Hundreds of insects and birds,

A wild lifeline overlooked.

Marielle Anzelone: That's it.

Brian Lehrer: Very nice. As we invited people to write in their haikus, we're going to read some others, before we end with some closing thoughts about the series. We've gotten so many, people were really into it. I think, honestly, it was a tribute to you that we got so many haikus on Twitter using the hashtag BLTrees and we got some in our inbox via email. Did you look through a lot of these? Did you see how creative people were and how inspired they were by you?

Marielle Anzelone: Oh, gosh. I don't think they were inspired by me but I did see the hashtag, and so many clever contributions. I just love this outpouring of love for trees because if you're writing a haiku, they're a little bit tricky, so you had to spend some time really thinking and some of them are just brilliant. I really loved reading through the ones that I saw.

Brian Lehrer: Here's another one that took you up on your suggestion to write it in the voice of the tree. This one from Barbara over email. It says,

On a morning walk,

She stopped and stared at my leaves,

As if newly born.

Brian Lehrer: Isn't that great? Like the tree is appreciating how it refreshes our view of the world.

Marielle Anzelone: That's really lovely.

Brian Lehrer: It's related to one of the keys of what you wanted us to get from this series, right?

Marielle Anzelone: Yes, definitely. Just having this sense that trees are around us and they're not just a backdrop. We're all really busy running around, but trees do so much and it's largely overlooked. To take that moment to connect with a tree obviously benefits the tree, because you'll be thinking about it and hopefully doing things for it, but it's such a benefit and boon to us as humans as well.

Brian Lehrer: Is there one that you might want to read that caught your attention for a bigger theme that it illustrated?

Marielle Anzelone: Yes, let's see. There were a couple, oh gosh, there were so many. Just one. Let me think. Well, I'm going to be biased and do one for my friend Georgia Silvera Seamans who was on Brian Lehrer, who was on BLTrees with us for our phenology discussion in March. Hers is in honor of the tulip tree that she's following.

Your presence draws me

to you, yellowing leaves bright,

seeds fly, then winter.

Marielle Anzelone: With that, she's really talking about the changes of the tree through the seasons and the way the tree reflects that, which is phenology. That was very appropriate.

Brian Lehrer: Let me also mention that on our webpage for this segment, people can see photos as well as the haikus. Also, what's really cool is a time lapse slideshow of your tree over the year, because that's what I've been submitting that other people have been submitting, the chosen tree. You asked us to take a photo every month to post it and see how it's changed. Did you learn anything this year, even being an urban ecologist already, about how trees change from November to the following October?

Marielle Anzelone: I did. Honestly, it made me pay attention more to things that-- my bias is towards small little wildflowers that are rare in the woods. Sometimes I can be a plant snob, and I might not spend the time that I should really looking at individual trees, but every tree has a story to tell and I learned so much from the pin oak.

Just all of the ways in which-- so much life in that oak, caterpillars and just birds sitting on the branches and a monarch butterfly flew by one day. It was just such a lovely moment to pause once a month and really look at this tree in a different way, instead of just not really thinking about all the ways it contributes to the living world around us.

Brian Lehrer: I'll read one more haiku from a listener. From listener Jerielle, it says,

My arms are tired,

Thank you for noticing me,

I'll remember you.

Brian Lehrer: [laughs] One more in the voice of the tree. We just have 20 seconds. Do you want to tell everybody about the walk that you're leading this weekend in Upper Manhattan?

Marielle Anzelone: Well, actually what I want to do is say thank you to you. People can go to nycwildflowerweek.org for the walk, but I want to say, Brian, your show is the beating heart of this city. Thank you for embracing this idea that trees are part of the fabric of New York and deserve more attention. I'm so grateful that you took a chance on this series and it's been the privilege of a lifetime to work with you and your exceptional team. Thank you so much.

Brian Lehrer: Well thank you so much. The idea was yours and the privilege was mine. Marielle Anzelone, founder of New York City Wildflower Week. Thank you. Thank you.

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