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Weeping Willow on 6th Ave. and 5th St. — Brooklynian

Weeping Willow on 6th Ave. and 5th St.

dailyheights
dailyheights
edited November -1 in Park Slope
nyt_willow_27will_lg.jpgJohn Freeman Gill writes in the New York Times: "New Yorkers ... are not known for their tolerance of things that protrude, dangle, leak or waft from a neighbor's yard into theirs. But on Sixth Street near Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn, there stands - looms, really - a notable exception: a gargantuan weeping willow tree whose canopy cloaks four full yards and tickles the airspace of a fifth."

"By a peculiar coincidence, this giant among trees is owned by a giant among men, a 6-foot-5 former University of Michigan basketball player named John Morgan. When Mr. Morgan bought the house 16 years ago with his wife, Linda, the dwelling was hideous, but the willow already had an otherworldly quality. 'The only thing attractive about the house was the tree,' Mr. Morgan said. 'It was magical, and I said, 'I just can't not have this.' "

Link: Under the Spreading Willow Tree [New York Times]

Comments

  • flute
    flute
    Weeping Willows are magnificent trees. And he's right, they can be magical. I grew up on the Jersey Shore and there were some truly amazing specimens there ....
  • carnivore
    carnivore
    Don't they typically grow near water? Usually near a stream or pond or something, right? I wonder what that one is tapping into.
  • linusvanpelt
    linusvanpelt
    Carnivore wrote: Don't they typically grow near water? Usually near a stream or pond or something, right? I wonder what that one is tapping into.
    I believe the article (which I'm too lazy to reread) said it is thought to tap into an underground stream. There are supposedly two underground streams, aquifers -- I don't know the correct term -- that run through Park Slope, one roughly around 6th street and the other, I think, at about Garfield. The underground water can make for damp basements but apparently it also grows purty trees.
  • carnivore
    carnivore
    linusvanpelt wrote: I believe the article (which I'm too lazy to reread) said it is thought to tap into an underground stream. There are supposedly two underground streams, aquifers -- I don't know the correct term -- that run through Park Slope, one roughly around 6th street and the other, I think, at about Garfield. The underground water can make for damp basements but apparently it also grows purty trees.
    Right you are. I hadn't noticed the article link in the original post.
    It is believed to be fed by an underground stream flowing beneath Sixth Street from Prospect Park.
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