When the World Trade Center fell on September 11, 2001, one tree, a Callery Pear (Pyrus calleryana), survived through the wreckage and was given the name “The Survivor Tree.” The Survivor Tree seedling program was launched on September 11, 2013, in partnership with Bartlett Tree Experts of Stamford, Connecticut, and John Bowne High School in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens. Over 400 saplings have been grown from that one surviving pear tree and the program sees to it that each year in September; young trees are given to communities affected by tragedy, in the spirit of hope and resilience.
New York-Presbyterian is one of the nation’s most comprehensive, integrated academic health care delivery systems, dedicated to providing the highest quality, most compassionate care and service to patients. Based in New York City, it is one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive hospitals and a leading provider of inpatient, ambulatory, and preventive care in all areas of medicine.
These two great benevolent forces have come together and Blondie’s Treehouse was asked to participate in the planting and caretaking of a survivor tree in a newly designed memorial garden at New York-Presbyterian’s east side campus. Overlooking the East River, the garden is planted with ornamental grasses waving in the wind, mirroring the serene movement of the water. At the center is the Callery Pear Survivor Tree, planted to honor the EMS workers whose lives were lost during their heroic efforts on September 11, 2001. Blondie’s retrofitted the irrigation system and will provide continuous care of the garden making sure that the vitality and strength that this living memorial represents will be here for all to share in the years to come.