November 11, 2022 • 56 mins
A big, old, thorny honeylocust tree on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago has a place within the history of modernist architecture and landscape design. How so? Professor and landscape architect Ron Henderson talks about the tree's relationship to Mies van der Rohe and his colleague Alfred Caldwell, and how the honeylocust became the feathery urban forest powerhouse it is today.
Guests
Ron Henderson
Professor and Director of Landscape Architecture, Illinois Institute of Technology
Founding Principal, LIRIO Landscape Architecture
lirio.work
https://arch.iit.edu/study/mla/
Richard Polansky
Owner, Hafs Road Orchard
Genoa City, Wisconsin
hafsroadorchard.com
Tree Story Short
Tom Brennan
Podcast Consultant
Martha Douglas-Osmundson
Theme Music
Diccon Lee, www.deeleetree.com
Artwork
Dahn Hiuni, www.dahnhiuni.com/home
Website
thisoldtree.show
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Doug Still (00:00):
What does a big, old, thorny honeylocust tree on
(00:02):
the campus of the IllinoisInstitute of Technology in
Chicago have to do with LudvigMies van der Rohe, one of the
towering figures of 20th centuryarchitecture. Would you believe
this tree and its species have aplace in the history of
modernism, specifically itsiconic landscapes? Professor Ron
Henderson is here to talk abouthis favorite tree at IIT, about
(00:24):
Mies van der Rohe and hiscolleague, Alfred Caldwell, and
how the honeylocust became thefeathery urban forest powerhouse
it is today. I'm your host, DougStill, and welcome to This Old
Tree.
This Old Tree song - Dee L (00:37):
This old tree, standing here for more
than four centuries. I wonderwhat you'd say if you could talk
to me about what it's like to bethis old tree....
Doug Still (00:57):
Think I can speak for a lot of people when I say
that we sometimes takehoneylocust trees for granted.
If you live in a city in theeastern half of the United
States, you've undoubtedlywalked underneath the shade of a
honeylocust tree thousands oftimes, whether walking along the
street, traversing a corporateplaza, or strolling through a
local park. They are everywherewith their irregular form and
(01:20):
branching patterns, finefoliage, and ability to
withstand the toughest of urbanconditions such as drought,
salt, and neglect. As an urbanforester, I know that within the
larger goal of selecting treesto plant for diversity, the
readily available honeylocusttree was the species to choose
for the most difficult ofsituations, saving other more
(01:42):
"interesting" species for placeswhere they're more appreciated.
Well, to all Gleditsiatriacanthos everywhere, I humbly
apologize. It took the researchand appreciative eye of my
friend Ron Henderson to wake meup out of my maybe slightly
condescending attitude to seehow beautiful this tree is, and
(02:03):
to look at it freshly throughthe eyes of Mies van der Rohe,
his landscape architect AlfredCaldwell, and other mid 20th
century modernists.
Ron Henderson is Professor andDirector of the Landscape
Architecture and UrbanismProgram at the Illinois
Institute of Technology or IITin Chicago. He's also Principal
(02:27):
of Lirio Landscape Architecturebased in Newport, Rhode Island.
He has a broad range of researchand interests including
landscape based urbanism,gardens and arboricultural
practices in China and Japan,and his own gorgeous botanical
drawing, which has beenexhibited at the United States
National Arboretum inWashington, DC. He is the author
(02:49):
of The Gardens of Suzhou, andnumerous articles on landscape
architecture and urbanism. Hiscurrent research includes the
Driverless City Project, whichfocuses on the urban design
implications of driverless andautonomous vehicles. He's also
my longtime friend. Ron, welcometo the show.
Ron Henderson (03:08):
Doug, I'm happy to be here. Thanks for inviting
Doug Still (03:10):
The center of attention today is a 70-year old
me.
honeylocust tree that standsoutside your design studio on
campus at IIT. It's a tree witha distinct place in the history
of landscape architecture andmodernist design, which you're
going to tell us about. Butbefore we get into all that,
could you just describe the treefor our listeners, in your own
(03:32):
words?
Ron Henderson (03:33):
Something that most people would notice first
about the tree is that it'sthorny. It's a Gleditsia
triacanthos, the honeylocust.
It's situated on the south sideof IIT's Crown Hall, fairly
close to the building, maybeonly 10 or 12 feet off of the
building. It's probably 24 to 26inches in diameter. Honeylocusts
(03:58):
are what we refer to as an openhabit or a picturesque habit
tree, which means that theirtrunks are not necessarily
straight, and their canopies arenot symmetrical. So they kind of
range in their branchingpatterns. They're also pinnate
leaf trees, which means thattheir leaves are made up of many
(04:22):
small leaflets, right?
Doug Still (04:26):
It's actually double compound.
Ron Henderson (04:28):
Yeah, some leaves are pinnate, some are double
pinnate, and sometimes they'repinnate and double pinnate, even
on the same tree.
Doug Still (04:37):
I say "pinnate," have I been saying it wrong this
whole time?
Ron Henderson (04:39):
Oh, I don't know.
[Both laugh]
Doug Still (04:42):
But yes, it's a very feathery leaf.
Ron Henderson (04:45):
It is. So they're fern-like. And what that does
is, it means that the thesunlight penetrates the tree
canopy. It's not a very denseleaf pattern. So light
penetrates the tree canopy andreaches the ground, which means
it's also a tree where grass andherbaceous layers of plants grow
(05:09):
quite well under honeylocust.
Doug Still (05:13):
I think what distinguishes it for me is that
irregular form you were talkingabout. I can tell that it's a
honeylocust tree from 200 feetaway or more. Bending branches,
and the fine texture to theleaves.
Ron Henderson (05:26):
Exactly, and I think that's one of the reasons
why this was a tree that wasused on the IIT campus. The IIT
campus is a modernist campus,the master plan by Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe, the Germanarchitect who came to Chicago in
the 1930's. And this picturesquehabit and open canopy contrasts
(05:53):
very distinctly against the kindof right angle cubic massing of
the buildings designed by Miesvan der Rohe. So there's a
really rich relationship incontrast between the buildings
and the trees.
Doug Still (06:08):
Yeah, I love your appreciation for this tree. I
have to say, honeylocusts aresort of ubiquitous, you know,
it's probably the most commonstreet tree in the eastern
United States, at least in theNortheast. As a longtime, maybe
slightly jaded urban forester,I'd probably walk right by the
(06:31):
tree without thinking about ittoo much. But you wrote an
article a few years ago abouthoneylocust trees called The
Modernist's Tree, and it was inDwell Magazine. And part of what
makes THIS tree so special iswhat it standing next to. And
you had just started describingthat.
Ron Henderson (06:49):
Yeah. So in in Chicago, it is about one third
of the species composition ofthe urban forest. So it has been
planted quite a bit over thelast 50 years or so because it's
so successful. But also because,as we mentioned, the canopy is
(07:11):
fairly open, which means lightpenetrates to the ground. The
leaflets are also very small, sothat when they fall to the
ground, they kind of justdisperse in the wind. So those
qualities have made it quite avaluable and desirable tree in
cities. It's also very rugged.
Doug Still (07:31):
It's probably one of the toughest trees that we
plant, [right] in terms of soilcompaction, salt, its ability to
withstand abuse and neglect.
It's one of those trees wechoose when we're like, okay, we
need we need the toughest treethat we can in this particular
spot. That's a place for the
Ron Henderson (07:52):
It is, and in its relationship to buildings,
honeylocust.
because the canopy is open andrather diaphanous, and the
quality of light is so brightbeneath it, it's also a tree
that's become quite desirable byarchitects because it's a it's a
tree that doesn't hidebuildings. It casts a very soft
(08:14):
shadow against the wall of thebuilding. But it doesn't hide
the architecture, which has madeit a very desirable tree by some
of the best architects and someof the best landscape architects
of the modernist period inAmerica.
Doug Still (08:31):
Can you tell us about this building that this
tree standing next to, whereyour design studio is? And tell
our listeners, who might notknow, who Mies van der Rohe is.
Ron Henderson (08:43):
So the building is Crown Hall. It is the home of
the School of Architecture atIllinois Institute of
Technology. It's listed on theNational Register of Historic
Places, and is recognized for acouple of innovations. First of
all, the design studio, which isthe place where architecture and
(09:06):
landscape architecture studentshave their desks where they work
on their design projects. It'sone big room. So it's a
universal space, which meanseverybody can see what everyone
else is doing. So it's a littlebit of a teaching and learning
"in a public square" kind ofspace. So several hundred
(09:28):
students are in the same largespace together. [Right] The
building is a steel structurewith glass walls. The steel
structure at Crown Hall, part ofthe innovation is that the
girders are on the roof and youdon't see them inside the
building. So the interior of thebuilding is a very taut, clear
(09:53):
rectangle with four corners andsmooth floor and a smooth
ceiling. And from the outside,it's a very open steel and glass
structure, so you can also sensethe the life and the vitality of
the teaching and learning that'shappening inside of it.
Conversely, when you're insideof it, you're very aware of the
(10:14):
trees that Alfred Caldwell, thelandscape architect who worked
with Mies and was also facultyat IIT, designed and planted
around the building.
Doug Still (10:26):
I was reading a little bit about it. This
building as a whole isconsidered one of Mies'
masterpieces.
Ron Henderson (10:31):
It is, you know, some of his other well known
buildings includes the Seagramsbuilding on Park Avenue in New
York, the Edith Farnsworth Housewhich was also a steel and glass
house, one of the first glasshouses just outside of Chicago.
But his master plan for IIT, aswell as about thirteen buildings
(10:57):
that he did on our campus is thehighest concentration of his
work. Most of us would considerCrown Hall the epitome of his
work on our campus.
Doug Still (11:10):
Just backtracking a bit. So he is considered one of
the greatest modernistarchitects of the 20th century,
with Le Corbusier, WalterGropius, Frank Lloyd Wright. And
he was a German, he waspreviously the Director of the
Bauhaus in Germany.
Ron Henderson (11:30):
That's all correct.
Doug Still (11:31):
I was brushing up on my art history [both laugh], and
until he was the last directorof the Bauhaus in 1933.
Apparently, the Gestapo raidedtheir school and dispersed it.
It was considered very"un-German," the International
(11:52):
Style of modernism. They didn'twant to have that. That ended
the Bauhaus, and he ended upemmigrating and coming to the
US.
Ron Henderson (12:03):
Yeah, that's correct. He and Gropius and
several others were able to beinvited to teach and contribute
to universities in the US. SoGropius went to Harvard. Mies
van der Rohe came to IIT. Alongwith him he brought Ludwig
(12:24):
Hilberseimer, the planner, andothers in a very complex,
geopolitical time for sure.
Doug Still (12:34):
Right. And part of his responsibilities was, he was
commissioned to redesign thecampus as you say.
Ron Henderson (12:40):
That's right. His master plan for for the campus
was really one of the firstimportations of Bauhaus planning
and compositional principles inurban planning in America. So
the composition of buildings atIIT is not what one might expect
(13:03):
at a university. We don't havequads, for instance. The
buildings kind of slip past oneanother. And our landscapes are
called fields and meadows. Wedon't have quadrangles or a yard
like Harvard, which is a moredomestic term. Our terms are
(13:26):
more ecological in a way, youknow, fields and meadows.
Because the landscape flowsthrough and among the buildings
is not defined, like a courtyardwould be. So the the campus is a
much more porous spatial order.
You know, the IIT campus again,to distinguish it maybe from
(13:57):
other campuses, because of thismodernist spatial planning, it's
an open campus. Because we don'thave quadrangles means we don't
have gates, and we don't havethresholds through the buildings
where you walk through a doorwayinto the courtyard. The
perimeter of our campus is open.
So it's open to theneighborhood, it's open to the
(14:19):
community. So it's spatiallyintegrated, not a place apart.
Although the way the buildingsare built distinguishes it from
the adjacent neighborhoods. Thatalso means that the landscape
can flow through the campus. Sowith Alfred Caldwell's work with
(14:41):
Mies van der Rohe, buildingwhat's known as a campus in a
park, the buildings float inthis lightly wooded landscape
that has a series of clearingsor openings in the canopy, which
are places where the fields are.
And so there's a continuity inthe landscape that washes across
(15:04):
the campus. It's again a littlebit distinct from having a
series of enclosed spaces andquadrangles.
Doug Still (15:13):
Right, and a series of separate gardens.
Ron Henderson (15:15):
And a series of separate gardens. And so one of
the things that helps thelandscape read almost like a
native savanna, which would bethe the native ecosystem here in
Chicago at IIT, is the use ofhoneylocust as as one of the
(15:39):
trees because of its irregularhabit and open canopy. It's a
very naturalizing kind of tree,right, as opposed to a linden or
a sugar maple or a tree that hasa more tight habit and formal
character. This ranginess andopenness of the honeylocust
(16:02):
allows it to kind of dancethrough the campus.
Doug Still (16:05):
Right. And so it's sort of like a field tree.
Ron Henderson (16:09):
It is a field tree, yes.
Doug Still (16:11):
In the Midwest, I think it's range - it's mainly,
from Minnesota down into Texas,and the central part of the
country. Some people probablyconsider it a weed, but it's
grows along the edges offorests. You had a quote, in
(16:32):
your article you write, "In his1939 book, Siftings, Prairie
School landscape architect JensJensen wrote, 'There's a certain
refinement about this tree andits golden yellow autumn color.
It gives a soft light to thelandscape. Jensen further
described the honeylocust'scommon situation along the edges
(16:53):
of forests. Down in centralIllinois, the honeylocust is at
home, and in some sections isknown as the Farmer Wife's Tree.
This name has been given to itbecause of the fact that it was
the farmer's wife who went intothe wooded areas along the
prairie rivers for locustsaplings. It was beside such a
country fence row that AlfredCaldwell, who had worked with
(17:15):
Jensen, planted some of hisfirst honeylocust's at his
Wisconsin farm in the early1940s.'" First of all, why were
the farmer's wives going in thewoods for honey locust saplings?
Ron Henderson (17:27):
I don't know.
[Both laugh]
Doug Still (17:31):
I didn't get that part of it. But that's what he
said. But maybe we could talkabout who Alfred Caldwell was
and how he came to work withMies van der Rohe?
Ron Henderson (17:41):
Alfred Caldwell was a landscape architect active
in Chicago through through mostof the 1900s. Pretty much his
life spanned the century. Hegrew up in Chicago, and began
working with Jens Jensen. Andwas in fact, working on the site
(18:05):
with Jensen on the Ford Estate,north of Detroit, which was one
of the first times that thehoneylocust tree was, as you
said, kind of pulled out of thefield and brought into the
garden. Jensen who was aproponent of native plant
species and an ecologist. Amongother things, he was active in
(18:27):
helping to save the IndianaDunes. He was using plants that
maybe the more academicallytrained landscape architects on
the east coast were not lookingat. So he was perfectly happy
using this kind of field tree inin a garden.
Doug Still (18:47):
So Jens Jensen and Alfred Caldwell were really the
first champions of thehoneylocust tree.
Ron Henderson (18:53):
Yes, and I think Jensen built an appreciation for
it. But there was really noJensen landscape where the
honeylocust became iconic. Itwas Caldwell, and in a different
way the landscape architect DanKiley, who elevated the
(19:14):
honeylocust into becoming aniconic modernist tree. For
Caldwell, who designed reallysome of the most remarkable
landscapes in America all ofwhich are in Chicago with the
exception of park in Dubuque,Iowa, the Alfred Caldwell Lily
(19:35):
Pool in Lincoln Park, PromontoryPoint are near the University of
Chicago and Hyde Park, as wellas a series of projects and
ongoing work at IIT. When Mieswas relieved of his
responsibilities at IIT asdirector of the architecture
program, Caldwell resigned inprotest and left the university.
(20:00):
He was invited to teach atUniversity of Southern
California at Los Angeles andalso did some really remarkable
projects there. Caldwell was oneof the few people that both
Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies vander Rohe liked. Frank Lloyd
Wright invited Caldwell to moveto Taliesin East in Wisconsin
(20:25):
and work with him. Mies firstmet Caldwell at what's now known
as the Alfred Caldwell LilyPool, a project that he had done
when he was with the ChicagoPark District. Mies, as the
story goes, encountered Caldwellat the park, which has a
(20:45):
remarkable wooden gate and aseries of stone and wood
pavilions that are oftencharacterized as Wrightian. And
Mies had a lot of admiration forthis work, and ended up inviting
Caldwell to also teach at IIT.
So Caldwell was someone who bothFrank Lloyd Wright wanted to
work with and Mies van der Rohewanted to work with. I don't
(21:08):
think there are very many peoplethat would be able to span this
sense of kind of Bauhaus rigoraround the way things are built
and the Wrightian spirit of akind of Jeffersonian
agricultural America with a kindof sense of populous democracy
(21:29):
that Wright represented. And Ithink he learned a lot of this
from Jensen in terms of how thelandscape represented American
values in a different way in theMidwest, than the more academic
and maybe even still Europeanlooking east coast.
Doug Still (21:53):
The modernist style - International style - began in
Europe after World War One, andhad become international. But
the honeylocust is a speciesnative to the American Midwest,
as we said, and sort ofdistinctly American. I find this
blending of backgrounds reallyinteresting. But do you think
that Mies' choice of thehoneylocust, and working with
(22:17):
Caldwell, was purely aestheticand practical? Or was there also
an additional meaning there tooabout adopting culture beyond
regional boundaries, if you knowwhat I mean?
Ron Henderson (22:31):
I do. When when you look at the the multitude of
drawings and studies that Miesvan der Rohe did as he was
designing the IIT campus masterplan, you see someone who's
drawing the buildings withstraight edges, with triangles
and T squares and very preciselines. And then when that's laid
(22:57):
out, you see that he picks up afat, thick pencil, and he does
these incredibly gesturalsquiggles across this very
precise drawing. And he'sdrawing the trees. [Right] Yeah,
so the drawings give evidencethat Mies was looking at that
(23:20):
contrast between the cubiclinearity of the buildings and
the gestural vitality of trees.
Caldwell was able to fulfillMies' sense of what the
landscape would be byrecommending the honeylocust as
the primary tree on campus,because as we come back to this
(23:42):
picturesque habit, open habitand the quality of life that
they provide.
Doug Still (23:52):
A short digression.
The more I spoke to Ron, themore I realized that it was
landscape architect AlfredCaldwell that helped catapult
the honeylocust from wild fieldtree to modernist darling. I had
the honor and pleasure to speakwith someone who knew him. His
name is Richard Polanski, whoowns an orchard not far from the
Caldwell farm. Here's a snippetfrom our talk as Richard helps
(24:14):
bring Alfred Caldwell alive forus.
This Old Tree song - De (24:18):
[Music]
Doug Still (24:23):
So Richard, tell me a little bit about how you came
to know Alfred Caldwell.
Richard Polanski (24:28):
Well, it was in 1982. My wife and I had
decided to strike away from ourcareer kinds of jobs after a few
years out several years out ofcollege and we decided to buy an
apple orchard. And we had rentedan orchard and got our feet wet
(24:48):
that way and we weren't fromrural backgrounds or anything,
either one of us. It was a bigdecision to make. It was that
same month in 1982 that Caldwellcalled me, because that was
through a reference to my motherin law, who lived across the
street from the Caldwell farm inBristol, Wisconsin. [Gotcha] He
(25:12):
called me one night and asked meif I could come over to take
down a little shed that he hadbuilt on his 40 acres. That was
the first little shed, an 8 by12 wooden shed that he built
right after World War II when hebought that 40 acres. And I
said, well, I can do that Iworked in the area. So a
(25:33):
seventeen mile drive over there,met him. Then he told me he
didn't have to be there when Itore this down. But he gave me
all these rules about notdriving on the lawn and whatnot,
of course, which I broke all ofthose rules [Doug laughs]. Tore
it down, got rid of the concreteunderneath it. And a few days
later, he called me and said,"When are you coming back?" He
(25:56):
was so happy. He was so happythat I did it. And he wanted to
know how much to pay. And I saidI put the building back up, it's
already in use. And he couldn'tbelieve it. And he would call at
7 (26:09):
30 almost every night saying, "When can you come over?"
Doug Still (26:15):
He clearly liked you.
Richard Polanski (26:17):
Right, we hit it off pretty well, right off
the bat. He had a four acreapple orchard up in the corner
of the 40 acres, and that'ssomething he planted the year
after he bought that property,right after World War II. Which
was what the first time we everhad any money he said. His
(26:37):
family was very poor. Kind ofwanted to do, I think, what
Frank Lloyd Wright did, who hemet ten or twelve years earlier
than that. And they talked aboutbeing architects in the United
States at that time. It wastough to do. And so, Wright went
(26:58):
out on his own and started thefarm, and Alfred kind of fell
into that same idea of place tobe your own person, and to be
able to develop and be totallyfree from constraints, I think.
Doug Still (27:18):
How would you describe his personality? What
was he like?
Richard Polanski (27:22):
Well, he could be the sweetest man, quite
unbelievable in certain ways.
Most people are probablyfamiliar with Jehovah Witness,
where ther religious group comesand knocks on the door, and they
want to pass out some of theirinformation. And virtually every
year, some summer day, theywould show up way back into the
(27:46):
property and knock on the door.
And he would ask me to give thema glass of water, and we would
sit and talk for a few minutes.
And he would just be so sweetabout that. But he could also be
just a bear. The wrong person atthe wrong time? He would you
know, physically, just aboutphysically remove you, you know,
(28:12):
get out of here! (Doug laughs]Oh, it could be terrible. One of
his colleagues at the campus,Louis Johnson. Louis could come
and they would go off and talkabout bees or have these
conversations about the school.
(28:33):
And then two hours later, theycould be in a huge argument and
Louis would have to leave. [Thatwould be it] Yeah, yeah, and so
it was the full range.
Doug Still (28:45):
He knew how to get things done.
Richard Polanski (28:47):
He did. And at the same time, you didn't
realize how hard you wereworking. He was just so good at
that! And I remember readingsome some of it from his
memorial service, people who hadwritten about their experiences.
(29:07):
Students of his that so manypeople remarked that they had no
idea they were capable of somuch, that he got it out of them
in one way or another.
Doug Still (29:19):
That's amazing.
What's one of your favoritestories about him?
Richard Polanski (29:24):
Oh, gee, I've thought about all of these
things so many times. It's hardto place one because there's so
many. But I think in relation totrees, which were such a big
part of his life, and I don'tmean "tree" like a particular
(29:48):
tree, but trees and forests. Andafter many years of working
there we really didn't spendmuch time in the woods because
we were always doing buildingprojects. And we built a council
ring out in the woods, and thenhe wanted me to make a path
(30:10):
through the woods down aroundthe marsh and then to meet up in
a different location. Theinstructions were, this is just
great, instructions were, "Iwant a path that a blind man
walking in the dark will notstumble." [laughs]
Doug Still (30:30):
Okay! A good path.
Richard Polanski (30:34):
Yeah, right, right. And of course, but then
without disturbing the rootsthat are growing above the
ground. So it was quite a thing.
So I started in on it, laid outa few different areas where I
could do that and I showed him.
And then one day I was outwalking around in a part of the
(30:55):
woods that I hadn't seen before,and it was not filled with the
invasive species buckthorn,Rhamnus cathartica is it? So
that part of the forest was notinvaded and I went, "Jeez,
that's really interesting." So Iwas walking around in that part,
(31:17):
and I found a card table chair,you know, just a metal folding
chair, leaning up against atree. I went, "Well, I'll take
that up to the house." And solater when I was done, I took it
up there and I said, "I foundthis in the woods." "Put that
back!". [both laugh] That isreally a great story. It's him.
(31:44):
You know that that was his chairout in his words that he used.
Doug Still (31:50):
And what's a council ring?
Richard Polanski (31:51):
A council ring is, well, he got it from Jens
Jensen, the landscape architectswhom he worked for early on.
Alfred said he kind of saved himfrom, made him a man. To think
big thoughts, not just smallthoughts. So Jensen built these.
(32:16):
A council ring, they can be, theone we built is only about 15,
17 feet in diameter. And it's offieldstone, or not fieldstone,
I'm sorry. This one islimestone, flat rocks, stones
that we were able to get from aquarry up in central Wisconsin,
(32:39):
where we did go and he selectedspecial pieces of that have
those stones for certain spots.
So it's a circle, and it's about17 inches high, you know, a
decent sitting height. And therecould be a fire pit in the
middle like this one. But it'sfor sitting and talking and
meeting and being with people ina ring.
Doug Still (33:01):
Ron told me that he wrote poetry and short stories.
What's your experience withthose?
Richard Polanski (33:08):
Some things, I can think of the one that he had
me have engraved on the mantleof the beautiful, fabulous
fireplace in in his studio,which is a wooden structure. He
had me find someone to engrave,to cut into the stone. And the
(33:32):
poem is, "Wisconsin wood smoke,bright days will to slush and
golden rut." And that's a poemthat he wrote thinking about
when he worked for Jens Jensen,and he would drive into
Wisconsin looking for plantmaterial, trees, shrubs,
(33:56):
flowers, different things. Andhe would drive his old car. He
said that it had cardboard forthe floor and just holes in it.
And he would be driving throughthe countryside, and often in
the winter, driving along andyou see that in the winter every
(34:20):
house has a chimney with smokecoming out of it. And then as
the sun comes up on the snowy,icy roads, they turn to slush,
and then they get rutted, and sothere's the golden rut. So that
was his comment on those daysand working for Jensen.
Doug Still (34:43):
I later asked Richard about Mies van der Rohe
and Richard Caldwell. Do youremember the story of how they
met?
Richard Polanski (34:51):
That was when Mies and, I think, it was
Hilberseimer, or no Hilberseimercame later. Mies was, it was in
1938, and Mies was in Chicagobasically looking for a job, and
Alfred was working on the LilyPond on Fullerton, Lincoln Park.
(35:18):
Mies was there and happened tobe there and they start talking
and Mies got very interested inthis man, Alfred Caldwell. And
then that's really when it allstarted. And it wasn't I don't
know how long after that, butMies started calling Alfred
because Mies wanted Alfred toteach. And Alfred kept hanging
(35:44):
the phone up on him because ofMies' German accent. He thought
he was saying, "This is Me! Thisis Me!" [both laugh] He called
several times, he finallyrealized this is Mies van der
Rohe who was calling him.
[right] So then they did meetand went through, you know, they
had to figure out how to getAlfred into the school without
having any credentials otherthan what he could do.
Doug Still (36:09):
Jens Jensen had Alfred Caldwell to assist him as
did Mies van der Rohe, andAlfred Caldwell had you to
assist him. Do you have a"Richard Polanski" in your life
that you're passing some of thisinformation or knowledge down
(36:30):
to?
Richard Polanski (36:32):
Boy, that's quite a question. Well, my
orchard is my life, aside fromall the things that I've done
with with Alfred's things. And Ireally hope that I do have some
time now as I'm 72 and I can'tkeep doing all this orchard
work. But for me, there are someyoung people here at my orchard.
(36:56):
Rachel, who started working withme over at Caldwell's, and now
lives in the old farmhouse hereand is married. And there are
some young people in my lifethat I'm hoping that they will
continue our apple orchard here,which is an important thing to
me.
Doug Still (37:14):
I'm gonna let you go. But I really enjoyed talking
with you today and learningabout Alfred Caldwell and other
people in his life and yourwork. Some great stories. And I
really enjoyed it. So thank you.
Richard Polanski (37:28):
Well, thank you.
Doug Still (37:32):
And back to Ron.
Ron Henderson (37:34):
You know, I'm working on a new landscape
architecture master plan for thecampus with Chicago landscape
architect Shandra GoldsmithGray, and we're looking to
diversify the species becausethere are a few too many
honeylocusts in the overallproportion. And looking at
things like Kentuckycoffeetrees, and yellowwoods, as
(37:56):
well as the nut trees, thehickories and walnuts.
Doug Still (38:00):
Trees with compound leaves. [Exactly] Open forms...
Ron Henderson (38:03):
Compound leaves, open form. Almost all of them
have yellow fall foliage.
Doug Still (38:09):
Right, very nice.
You and your family are fromIndiana, which is smack in the
middle of the honeylocust'snatural range. Would you say
that you have a homegrownappreciation for this tree? And
what is it about the honeylocustthat speaks to you?
Ron Henderson (38:26):
I do not have a homegrown appreciation for the
honeylocust tree. I have ahomegrown appreciation of
chinkapin oaks and persimmons.
[both laugh] You know, this is Ithink this is a learned
appreciation almost an academicappreciation that grew out of
being an IIT. But I began tounderstand how its qualities are
(38:51):
so positive in this particularkind of setting. You know before
I had a deep understanding ofIIT, a place that I came to
about a decade ago, myappreciation for the honeylocust
was more focused on anotherproject in southern Indiana, in
(39:15):
Columbus, Indiana, which isanother center of modernism in
America. A small town with aremarkable collection of works
by modern architects andlandscape architects. There, the
landscape architect Dan Kiley,working in collaboration with
the architect Eero Saarinen andwith Alexander Girard, the
(39:38):
interior designer and graphicdesigner, worked on a project
for the Miller family who werethe owners of Cummins Engines.
And one of the great modernistgardens in America is the Miller
garden that was that grew out ofthat project. Kiley had a more
(39:59):
European sense of tree planting,whereas Caldwell planted drifts
of trees. Kiley planted gridsand allees and lines. A very
geometrically ordered spatialsequence of distinct rooms and
spaces using any number ofspecies. But iconically at the
(40:25):
Miller garden, is an allee ofhoneylocusts that almost are
like a landscape logia betweenthe living room of the house,
looking out over the great lawnthat that rolls down to to the
river.
Doug Still (40:45):
Yeah, very beautiful.
Ron Henderson (40:46):
It is, it is. And those are much different trees.
Kiley selected trees that were alittle more insistent. So the
trunks were the same diameter,they're a little bit more
straight trunk. Whereas Caldwellmight look to find the most
(41:06):
gnarly, asymmetrical tree, Kileywould try and find matched
trees.
Doug Still (41:12):
So most likely, Caldwell selected that tree
outside Crown Hall.
Ron Henderson (41:16):
Oh, for almost certainly. He selected all of
the trees for his projects.
Doug Still (41:22):
And is that in a drift, or is that on its own?
Ron Henderson (41:25):
It's part of a little grove.
Doug Still (41:29):
You said it's covered in thorns, and I assume
seedpods? [Yes] Which isinteresting. But around this
time, a new variety ofhoneylocusts was developed and
patented, which you described inthis in your article, at
Siebenthaler Nursery in Ohio.
How did that play into how thehoneylocust was planted and
(41:51):
approached in the followingdecades?
Ron Henderson (41:55):
So the native honeylocust has very sharp,
pronounced thorns that grow outof the trunk. Native Americans
used those thorns as needles andfor sewing leather. So they're
very sharp. And yes, they havevery large seed pods. They're in
(42:19):
the pea family. So they're likebig pea pods with a very
leathery casing. And, you know,maybe they average somewhere
around 8 to 12 inches long.
Those two characteristics -thorns which could hurt people,
and the pods which become litterin a urban setting or...
Doug Still (42:43):
And there are a lot of them.
Ron Henderson (42:44):
...and there are a lot of them. Those are less
desirable, although I love them.
And on an aside, the honeylocustRight, he would have had that
available to him [Yes] this new,range, as you noted, was in the
Midwest. Over the last severalmillennia, the range of the
honeylocust has retreatedbecause those seed pods were
(43:05):
symbiotic, had a symbioticrelationship as food for
megafauna. So giant sloths andmastodons were able to eat the
leathery seed pods. They wouldbe scarified as they were
digested. And so thatrelationship between megafauna
(43:26):
and the honeylocust is such thatif you go to the Field Museum
here in Chicago, and you see thediorama is with these megafauna
painted on the walls behind themare honey locusts. And so the
pods, they're hard for othersmaller fauna to digest. So
(43:49):
their range had been reduced.
But it also meant that in the20th century, that was not a
very desirable trait. So theSiebenthaler Nursery, my
the new cultivars. But he chosenot to use it.
understanding is they discovereda tree not far from from their
(44:11):
nursery, a honeylocust tree thatdidn't have seed pods, and was
thornless, so they began topropagate it. And so that
variety, the 'Moraine'honeylocust, grew out of their
nursery and was one of the firstin fact I believe it was the
(44:32):
first shade tree patented inAmerica after the Plant Patent
Act from the 1930s. So Caldwelllargely use the thorny pod tree.
Kiley, on the other hand,selected Gledistia triacanthos
(44:56):
inermis as it's known, which isthe thornless seedless variety
for the Miller garden inColumbus, Indiana.
Doug Still (45:05):
Now, I called Siebenthaler Nursery at your
urging prior to this interviewand spoke with Jeff
Siebenthaler. And he said thatthe original 'moraine' tree no
longer exists. The particularfield where it was has been
plowed under and is now housingdevelopment or something. [Of
course] He described it, sothere's Gleditsia triacanthos
(45:31):
inermis, which is the varietyand then 'moraine' as a cultivar
of that. But the 'moraine'unfortunately, or fortunately I
don't know or how we look at it,is not seen in the nursery trade
much anymore. There are manydifferent other cultivars that
are used prominently.
Ron Henderson (45:48):
Yeah, there are 'Skyline' and many..
Doug Still (45:52):
'Shademaster.'
Ron Henderson (45:52):
'Shademaster,' that's right.
Doug Still (45:54):
Other ones. So I have one last question for you.
When you walk by this treenearly every day, or at least
very often, what passes throughyour mind when you see it?
Ron Henderson (46:08):
Giants sloths.
Doug Still (46:09):
[Laughs] Very interesting. I had no idea.
Ron Henderson (46:15):
So I teach plants and design in our landscape
architecture and urbanismprogram. And for that class, the
first day of the class, I do awalk around the campus. And I
start with that tree. It's thefirst tree that I that I bring
the students to. We walk out ofCrown Hall, walk down the
(46:37):
travertine steps, walk to the tothe east, 30 feet or 40 feet,
and we start talking about theworld that that tree embodies.
It's Bauhaus, it's modernism,it's giant sloths, it's the
quality of the light. It's theshape of the trunk and the
(47:00):
branching, it's the shadows thatare cast on the glass walls of
Crown Hall. It's the texture ofthe light that penetrates into
their studios where they'reworking. So much gets embodied
in that one tree. So my campuswalk is about an hour and 45
(47:21):
minutes, but I spend 30 minutesor more, just at that one tree.
Doug Still (47:29):
We were talking about giving it a name and I was
thinking, why not the Mies vander Rohe honeylocust? But with
your talk about Alfred Caldwelland his influence, I don't know,
we'll have to come up withsomething different.
Ron Henderson (47:45):
We do refer to the space to the south of Crown
Hall as the 'Alfred CaldwellGrove' or as the 'Caldwell
Grove.' So it's interesting thatwe we don't have a particular
name for this one tree. So wetend to just refer to that
collection as the 'CaldwellGrove.'
Doug Still (48:07):
The 'Caldwell Grove.' Okay. Thanks for joining
me today, I really enjoyed ourconversation.
Ron Henderson (48:13):
Same here as always, Doug, let's plant some
more trees. [Music]
Doug Still (48:17):
We'll do take care.
Well, I ended up calling it theMies van der Rohe Honeylocust in
the Alfred Caldwell Grove. Ron,I hope that's okay, maybe it'll
catch on. And thanks again forelevating the honeylocust tree
in my eyes, and the view ofhistory. And now it's time for
the segment Tree Story Shorts,where listeners can share a
(48:42):
story about a tree in theirlives. Here's Tom Brennan of
Coventry, Rhode Island. [Music]
Tom Brennan (48:53):
This is Tom Brennan with an "Ode to the Lone Tree."
At the corner of two welltraveled roads, stands a field
of tall grass, and in the centerof that grass stands a lone
tree. I do not know what kind oftree nor what kind of grass. I
(49:13):
have always assumed that it wasa hayfield and thought of the
man who would cut it as thefarmer. Maybe I'm right, or
maybe he is just a guy who movesthe grass every now and then.
But one thing is certain. He hasalways mowed around the lone
tree. He has never cut it down,he has always respected the
(49:36):
tree. Perhaps as many of us do,revered it for its beauty and
its uniqueness, its abjectperfection. Maybe it was that,
or maybe he has just neverbothered. Perhaps it was simply
less trouble to mow around it.
Whatever the case, year in andyear out, the tree has stood.
For my whole career of thirtyyears in this, the largest of
(50:00):
town in the smallest of states,that tree has stood in that
field and on that corner, asilent witness to the seasons
and to the growth of the townaround it. Thousands of people
have stopped to photograph thelone tree. The lone tree has
never objected, never demured,never been asked for nor signed
(50:20):
an autograph or a release form.
It has changed, as we allchange, yet it has never changed
at all. Ever stable, everbeautiful, ever stately. Its
proportions exactly correct. Aperfect specimen of whatever
(50:41):
species of tree it is. Under itsbranches countless birds have
nested, around its base athousand rabbits have been born,
in its field as many woodchuckshave raised their young. Deer
have nibbled at its lowerbranches, young lovers have sat
in it shade. The lone tree seesall, knows all, keeps all their
(51:05):
secrets. Now, the hayfield ifthat's what it is, is to be
developed. Condominiums theysay. And they say such ideas
have been proposed in the past,but the construction, or the
destruction, has never happened.
Am I selfish when I hope that itnever does? When I hope that the
(51:26):
farmer keeps on mowing and thelone tree keeps on...tree-ing?
Well, then I am selfish, becauseI hope the lone tree remains for
many, many more seasons. Morebirds, and more bunnies. More
woodchucks and more deer. Morelovers, and more secrets.
Doug Still (51:49):
[Music] I'm going to end it there. I'm Doug still,
and thank you tree lovers forjoining me today on This Old
Tree. If you liked the show, oneway to show your support is to
hit the subscribe button on yourpodcast app, and that way we're
easy to find the next time youwant to listen. You can get
links and information about ourguests in the show notes, and
(52:12):
see photos and other relatedtree stuff if you follow This
Old Tree on Instagram orFacebook and now Mastodon. Also,
if you'd like to submit a one tothree minute Tree Story Short
about an important tree in yourlife, you can record it on the
Voice Memo app on your phone andemail it to me. I'd love to hear
from you. Here's arborist andsongwriter Dee Lee to take us
(52:34):
out. Have a great day.
This Old Tree song - Dee L (52:37):
This old tree, standing here for more
than four centuries. I wonderwhat you'd say if you could talk
to me about what it's like tobe, this old tree. Shadow and
(52:57):
shade, kids down the block areselling lemonade. Send them down
to cool breezes sweet cascade,tailor made by this old tree. In
(53:18):
1600 you were just a seed,reaching bothers sky, high.
Waiting for a chance to takeyour place in the warm sunshine.
Here I go, high above the placewhere the people grow, leave my
(53:47):
troubles on the ground farbelow, so I can get to know,
this old tree. Summer sparke inyour leaves. Autumn winds will
(54:11):
bring relief. Winter calls foryou to sleep. Spring returns
again in green. But the town -ships on the water side spy your
(54:41):
royal crown. Sentinal of green,two points off starboard bow,
homeward bound to this old tree.
In 1800 you felt the thunder orroll, lightning split the sky,
high. Though the fire raged inthe little town below, you
(55:08):
managed to survive, this scarupon your side. This old tree,
reach out and touch a livinghistory! Beneath my hands an
ancient mystery, how small I amby this old tree. How small I am
(55:36):
by this old tree.
What does a big, old, thorny honeylocust tree on
(00:02):
the campus of the IllinoisInstitute of Technology in
Chicago have to do with LudvigMies van der Rohe, one of the
towering figures of 20th centuryarchitecture. Would you believe
this tree and its species have aplace in the history of
modernism, specifically itsiconic landscapes? Professor Ron
Henderson is here to talk abouthis favorite tree at IIT, about
(00:24):
Mies van der Rohe and hiscolleague, Alfred Caldwell, and
how the honeylocust became thefeathery urban forest powerhouse
it is today. I'm your host, DougStill, and welcome to This Old
Tree.
This Old Tree song - Dee L (00:37):
This old tree, standing here for more
than four centuries. I wonderwhat you'd say if you could talk
to me about what it's like to bethis old tree....
Doug Still (00:57):
Think I can speak for a lot of people when I say
that we sometimes takehoneylocust trees for granted.
If you live in a city in theeastern half of the United
States, you've undoubtedlywalked underneath the shade of a
honeylocust tree thousands oftimes, whether walking along the
street, traversing a corporateplaza, or strolling through a
local park. They are everywherewith their irregular form and
(01:20):
branching patterns, finefoliage, and ability to
withstand the toughest of urbanconditions such as drought,
salt, and neglect. As an urbanforester, I know that within the
larger goal of selecting treesto plant for diversity, the
readily available honeylocusttree was the species to choose
for the most difficult ofsituations, saving other more
(01:42):
"interesting" species for placeswhere they're more appreciated.
Well, to all Gleditsiatriacanthos everywhere, I humbly
apologize. It took the researchand appreciative eye of my
friend Ron Henderson to wake meup out of my maybe slightly
condescending attitude to seehow beautiful this tree is, and
(02:03):
to look at it freshly throughthe eyes of Mies van der Rohe,
his landscape architect AlfredCaldwell, and other mid 20th
century modernists.
Ron Henderson is Professor andDirector of the Landscape
Architecture and UrbanismProgram at the Illinois
Institute of Technology or IITin Chicago. He's also Principal
(02:27):
of Lirio Landscape Architecturebased in Newport, Rhode Island.
He has a broad range of researchand interests including
landscape based urbanism,gardens and arboricultural
practices in China and Japan,and his own gorgeous botanical
drawing, which has beenexhibited at the United States
National Arboretum inWashington, DC. He is the author
(02:49):
of The Gardens of Suzhou, andnumerous articles on landscape
architecture and urbanism. Hiscurrent research includes the
Driverless City Project, whichfocuses on the urban design
implications of driverless andautonomous vehicles. He's also
my longtime friend. Ron, welcometo the show.
Ron Henderson (03:08):
Doug, I'm happy to be here. Thanks for inviting
Doug Still (03:10):
The center of attention today is a 70-year old
me.
honeylocust tree that standsoutside your design studio on
campus at IIT. It's a tree witha distinct place in the history
of landscape architecture andmodernist design, which you're
going to tell us about. Butbefore we get into all that,
could you just describe the treefor our listeners, in your own
(03:32):
words?
Ron Henderson (03:33):
Something that most people would notice first
about the tree is that it'sthorny. It's a Gleditsia
triacanthos, the honeylocust.
It's situated on the south sideof IIT's Crown Hall, fairly
close to the building, maybeonly 10 or 12 feet off of the
building. It's probably 24 to 26inches in diameter. Honeylocusts
(03:58):
are what we refer to as an openhabit or a picturesque habit
tree, which means that theirtrunks are not necessarily
straight, and their canopies arenot symmetrical. So they kind of
range in their branchingpatterns. They're also pinnate
leaf trees, which means thattheir leaves are made up of many
(04:22):
small leaflets, right?
Doug Still (04:26):
It's actually double compound.
Ron Henderson (04:28):
Yeah, some leaves are pinnate, some are double
pinnate, and sometimes they'repinnate and double pinnate, even
on the same tree.
Doug Still (04:37):
I say "pinnate," have I been saying it wrong this
whole time?
Ron Henderson (04:39):
Oh, I don't know.
[Both laugh]
Doug Still (04:42):
But yes, it's a very feathery leaf.
Ron Henderson (04:45):
It is. So they're fern-like. And what that does
is, it means that the thesunlight penetrates the tree
canopy. It's not a very denseleaf pattern. So light
penetrates the tree canopy andreaches the ground, which means
it's also a tree where grass andherbaceous layers of plants grow
(05:09):
quite well under honeylocust.
Doug Still (05:13):
I think what distinguishes it for me is that
irregular form you were talkingabout. I can tell that it's a
honeylocust tree from 200 feetaway or more. Bending branches,
and the fine texture to theleaves.
Ron Henderson (05:26):
Exactly, and I think that's one of the reasons
why this was a tree that wasused on the IIT campus. The IIT
campus is a modernist campus,the master plan by Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe, the Germanarchitect who came to Chicago in
the 1930's. And this picturesquehabit and open canopy contrasts
(05:53):
very distinctly against the kindof right angle cubic massing of
the buildings designed by Miesvan der Rohe. So there's a
really rich relationship incontrast between the buildings
and the trees.
Doug Still (06:08):
Yeah, I love your appreciation for this tree. I
have to say, honeylocusts aresort of ubiquitous, you know,
it's probably the most commonstreet tree in the eastern
United States, at least in theNortheast. As a longtime, maybe
slightly jaded urban forester,I'd probably walk right by the
(06:31):
tree without thinking about ittoo much. But you wrote an
article a few years ago abouthoneylocust trees called The
Modernist's Tree, and it was inDwell Magazine. And part of what
makes THIS tree so special iswhat it standing next to. And
you had just started describingthat.
Ron Henderson (06:49):
Yeah. So in in Chicago, it is about one third
of the species composition ofthe urban forest. So it has been
planted quite a bit over thelast 50 years or so because it's
so successful. But also because,as we mentioned, the canopy is
(07:11):
fairly open, which means lightpenetrates to the ground. The
leaflets are also very small, sothat when they fall to the
ground, they kind of justdisperse in the wind. So those
qualities have made it quite avaluable and desirable tree in
cities. It's also very rugged.
Doug Still (07:31):
It's probably one of the toughest trees that we
plant, [right] in terms of soilcompaction, salt, its ability to
withstand abuse and neglect.
It's one of those trees wechoose when we're like, okay, we
need we need the toughest treethat we can in this particular
spot. That's a place for the
Ron Henderson (07:52):
It is, and in its relationship to buildings,
honeylocust.
because the canopy is open andrather diaphanous, and the
quality of light is so brightbeneath it, it's also a tree
that's become quite desirable byarchitects because it's a it's a
tree that doesn't hidebuildings. It casts a very soft
(08:14):
shadow against the wall of thebuilding. But it doesn't hide
the architecture, which has madeit a very desirable tree by some
of the best architects and someof the best landscape architects
of the modernist period inAmerica.
Doug Still (08:31):
Can you tell us about this building that this
tree standing next to, whereyour design studio is? And tell
our listeners, who might notknow, who Mies van der Rohe is.
Ron Henderson (08:43):
So the building is Crown Hall. It is the home of
the School of Architecture atIllinois Institute of
Technology. It's listed on theNational Register of Historic
Places, and is recognized for acouple of innovations. First of
all, the design studio, which isthe place where architecture and
(09:06):
landscape architecture studentshave their desks where they work
on their design projects. It'sone big room. So it's a
universal space, which meanseverybody can see what everyone
else is doing. So it's a littlebit of a teaching and learning
"in a public square" kind ofspace. So several hundred
(09:28):
students are in the same largespace together. [Right] The
building is a steel structurewith glass walls. The steel
structure at Crown Hall, part ofthe innovation is that the
girders are on the roof and youdon't see them inside the
building. So the interior of thebuilding is a very taut, clear
(09:53):
rectangle with four corners andsmooth floor and a smooth
ceiling. And from the outside,it's a very open steel and glass
structure, so you can also sensethe the life and the vitality of
the teaching and learning that'shappening inside of it.
Conversely, when you're insideof it, you're very aware of the
(10:14):
trees that Alfred Caldwell, thelandscape architect who worked
with Mies and was also facultyat IIT, designed and planted
around the building.
Doug Still (10:26):
I was reading a little bit about it. This
building as a whole isconsidered one of Mies'
masterpieces.
Ron Henderson (10:31):
It is, you know, some of his other well known
buildings includes the Seagramsbuilding on Park Avenue in New
York, the Edith Farnsworth Housewhich was also a steel and glass
house, one of the first glasshouses just outside of Chicago.
But his master plan for IIT, aswell as about thirteen buildings
(10:57):
that he did on our campus is thehighest concentration of his
work. Most of us would considerCrown Hall the epitome of his
work on our campus.
Doug Still (11:10):
Just backtracking a bit. So he is considered one of
the greatest modernistarchitects of the 20th century,
with Le Corbusier, WalterGropius, Frank Lloyd Wright. And
he was a German, he waspreviously the Director of the
Bauhaus in Germany.
Ron Henderson (11:30):
That's all correct.
Doug Still (11:31):
I was brushing up on my art history [both laugh], and
until he was the last directorof the Bauhaus in 1933.
Apparently, the Gestapo raidedtheir school and dispersed it.
It was considered very"un-German," the International
(11:52):
Style of modernism. They didn'twant to have that. That ended
the Bauhaus, and he ended upemmigrating and coming to the
US.
Ron Henderson (12:03):
Yeah, that's correct. He and Gropius and
several others were able to beinvited to teach and contribute
to universities in the US. SoGropius went to Harvard. Mies
van der Rohe came to IIT. Alongwith him he brought Ludwig
(12:24):
Hilberseimer, the planner, andothers in a very complex,
geopolitical time for sure.
Doug Still (12:34):
Right. And part of his responsibilities was, he was
commissioned to redesign thecampus as you say.
Ron Henderson (12:40):
That's right. His master plan for for the campus
was really one of the firstimportations of Bauhaus planning
and compositional principles inurban planning in America. So
the composition of buildings atIIT is not what one might expect
(13:03):
at a university. We don't havequads, for instance. The
buildings kind of slip past oneanother. And our landscapes are
called fields and meadows. Wedon't have quadrangles or a yard
like Harvard, which is a moredomestic term. Our terms are
(13:26):
more ecological in a way, youknow, fields and meadows.
Because the landscape flowsthrough and among the buildings
is not defined, like a courtyardwould be. So the the campus is a
much more porous spatial order.
You know, the IIT campus again,to distinguish it maybe from
(13:57):
other campuses, because of thismodernist spatial planning, it's
an open campus. Because we don'thave quadrangles means we don't
have gates, and we don't havethresholds through the buildings
where you walk through a doorwayinto the courtyard. The
perimeter of our campus is open.
So it's open to theneighborhood, it's open to the
(14:19):
community. So it's spatiallyintegrated, not a place apart.
Although the way the buildingsare built distinguishes it from
the adjacent neighborhoods. Thatalso means that the landscape
can flow through the campus. Sowith Alfred Caldwell's work with
(14:41):
Mies van der Rohe, buildingwhat's known as a campus in a
park, the buildings float inthis lightly wooded landscape
that has a series of clearingsor openings in the canopy, which
are places where the fields are.
And so there's a continuity inthe landscape that washes across
(15:04):
the campus. It's again a littlebit distinct from having a
series of enclosed spaces andquadrangles.
Doug Still (15:13):
Right, and a series of separate gardens.
Ron Henderson (15:15):
And a series of separate gardens. And so one of
the things that helps thelandscape read almost like a
native savanna, which would bethe the native ecosystem here in
Chicago at IIT, is the use ofhoneylocust as as one of the
(15:39):
trees because of its irregularhabit and open canopy. It's a
very naturalizing kind of tree,right, as opposed to a linden or
a sugar maple or a tree that hasa more tight habit and formal
character. This ranginess andopenness of the honeylocust
(16:02):
allows it to kind of dancethrough the campus.
Doug Still (16:05):
Right. And so it's sort of like a field tree.
Ron Henderson (16:09):
It is a field tree, yes.
Doug Still (16:11):
In the Midwest, I think it's range - it's mainly,
from Minnesota down into Texas,and the central part of the
country. Some people probablyconsider it a weed, but it's
grows along the edges offorests. You had a quote, in
(16:32):
your article you write, "In his1939 book, Siftings, Prairie
School landscape architect JensJensen wrote, 'There's a certain
refinement about this tree andits golden yellow autumn color.
It gives a soft light to thelandscape. Jensen further
described the honeylocust'scommon situation along the edges
(16:53):
of forests. Down in centralIllinois, the honeylocust is at
home, and in some sections isknown as the Farmer Wife's Tree.
This name has been given to itbecause of the fact that it was
the farmer's wife who went intothe wooded areas along the
prairie rivers for locustsaplings. It was beside such a
country fence row that AlfredCaldwell, who had worked with
(17:15):
Jensen, planted some of hisfirst honeylocust's at his
Wisconsin farm in the early1940s.'" First of all, why were
the farmer's wives going in thewoods for honey locust saplings?
Ron Henderson (17:27):
I don't know.
[Both laugh]
Doug Still (17:31):
I didn't get that part of it. But that's what he
said. But maybe we could talkabout who Alfred Caldwell was
and how he came to work withMies van der Rohe?
Ron Henderson (17:41):
Alfred Caldwell was a landscape architect active
in Chicago through through mostof the 1900s. Pretty much his
life spanned the century. Hegrew up in Chicago, and began
working with Jens Jensen. Andwas in fact, working on the site
(18:05):
with Jensen on the Ford Estate,north of Detroit, which was one
of the first times that thehoneylocust tree was, as you
said, kind of pulled out of thefield and brought into the
garden. Jensen who was aproponent of native plant
species and an ecologist. Amongother things, he was active in
(18:27):
helping to save the IndianaDunes. He was using plants that
maybe the more academicallytrained landscape architects on
the east coast were not lookingat. So he was perfectly happy
using this kind of field tree inin a garden.
Doug Still (18:47):
So Jens Jensen and Alfred Caldwell were really the
first champions of thehoneylocust tree.
Ron Henderson (18:53):
Yes, and I think Jensen built an appreciation for
it. But there was really noJensen landscape where the
honeylocust became iconic. Itwas Caldwell, and in a different
way the landscape architect DanKiley, who elevated the
(19:14):
honeylocust into becoming aniconic modernist tree. For
Caldwell, who designed reallysome of the most remarkable
landscapes in America all ofwhich are in Chicago with the
exception of park in Dubuque,Iowa, the Alfred Caldwell Lily
(19:35):
Pool in Lincoln Park, PromontoryPoint are near the University of
Chicago and Hyde Park, as wellas a series of projects and
ongoing work at IIT. When Mieswas relieved of his
responsibilities at IIT asdirector of the architecture
program, Caldwell resigned inprotest and left the university.
(20:00):
He was invited to teach atUniversity of Southern
California at Los Angeles andalso did some really remarkable
projects there. Caldwell was oneof the few people that both
Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies vander Rohe liked. Frank Lloyd
Wright invited Caldwell to moveto Taliesin East in Wisconsin
(20:25):
and work with him. Mies firstmet Caldwell at what's now known
as the Alfred Caldwell LilyPool, a project that he had done
when he was with the ChicagoPark District. Mies, as the
story goes, encountered Caldwellat the park, which has a
(20:45):
remarkable wooden gate and aseries of stone and wood
pavilions that are oftencharacterized as Wrightian. And
Mies had a lot of admiration forthis work, and ended up inviting
Caldwell to also teach at IIT.
So Caldwell was someone who bothFrank Lloyd Wright wanted to
work with and Mies van der Rohewanted to work with. I don't
(21:08):
think there are very many peoplethat would be able to span this
sense of kind of Bauhaus rigoraround the way things are built
and the Wrightian spirit of akind of Jeffersonian
agricultural America with a kindof sense of populous democracy
(21:29):
that Wright represented. And Ithink he learned a lot of this
from Jensen in terms of how thelandscape represented American
values in a different way in theMidwest, than the more academic
and maybe even still Europeanlooking east coast.
Doug Still (21:53):
The modernist style - International style - began in
Europe after World War One, andhad become international. But
the honeylocust is a speciesnative to the American Midwest,
as we said, and sort ofdistinctly American. I find this
blending of backgrounds reallyinteresting. But do you think
that Mies' choice of thehoneylocust, and working with
(22:17):
Caldwell, was purely aestheticand practical? Or was there also
an additional meaning there tooabout adopting culture beyond
regional boundaries, if you knowwhat I mean?
Ron Henderson (22:31):
I do. When when you look at the the multitude of
drawings and studies that Miesvan der Rohe did as he was
designing the IIT campus masterplan, you see someone who's
drawing the buildings withstraight edges, with triangles
and T squares and very preciselines. And then when that's laid
(22:57):
out, you see that he picks up afat, thick pencil, and he does
these incredibly gesturalsquiggles across this very
precise drawing. And he'sdrawing the trees. [Right] Yeah,
so the drawings give evidencethat Mies was looking at that
(23:20):
contrast between the cubiclinearity of the buildings and
the gestural vitality of trees.
Caldwell was able to fulfillMies' sense of what the
landscape would be byrecommending the honeylocust as
the primary tree on campus,because as we come back to this
(23:42):
picturesque habit, open habitand the quality of life that
they provide.
Doug Still (23:52):
A short digression.
The more I spoke to Ron, themore I realized that it was
landscape architect AlfredCaldwell that helped catapult
the honeylocust from wild fieldtree to modernist darling. I had
the honor and pleasure to speakwith someone who knew him. His
name is Richard Polanski, whoowns an orchard not far from the
Caldwell farm. Here's a snippetfrom our talk as Richard helps
(24:14):
bring Alfred Caldwell alive forus.
This Old Tree song - De (24:18):
[Music]
Doug Still (24:23):
So Richard, tell me a little bit about how you came
to know Alfred Caldwell.
Richard Polanski (24:28):
Well, it was in 1982. My wife and I had
decided to strike away from ourcareer kinds of jobs after a few
years out several years out ofcollege and we decided to buy an
apple orchard. And we had rentedan orchard and got our feet wet
(24:48):
that way and we weren't fromrural backgrounds or anything,
either one of us. It was a bigdecision to make. It was that
same month in 1982 that Caldwellcalled me, because that was
through a reference to my motherin law, who lived across the
street from the Caldwell farm inBristol, Wisconsin. [Gotcha] He
(25:12):
called me one night and asked meif I could come over to take
down a little shed that he hadbuilt on his 40 acres. That was
the first little shed, an 8 by12 wooden shed that he built
right after World War II when hebought that 40 acres. And I
said, well, I can do that Iworked in the area. So a
(25:33):
seventeen mile drive over there,met him. Then he told me he
didn't have to be there when Itore this down. But he gave me
all these rules about notdriving on the lawn and whatnot,
of course, which I broke all ofthose rules [Doug laughs]. Tore
it down, got rid of the concreteunderneath it. And a few days
later, he called me and said,"When are you coming back?" He
(25:56):
was so happy. He was so happythat I did it. And he wanted to
know how much to pay. And I saidI put the building back up, it's
already in use. And he couldn'tbelieve it. And he would call at
7 (26:09):
30 almost every night saying, "When can you come over?"
Doug Still (26:15):
He clearly liked you.
Richard Polanski (26:17):
Right, we hit it off pretty well, right off
the bat. He had a four acreapple orchard up in the corner
of the 40 acres, and that'ssomething he planted the year
after he bought that property,right after World War II. Which
was what the first time we everhad any money he said. His
(26:37):
family was very poor. Kind ofwanted to do, I think, what
Frank Lloyd Wright did, who hemet ten or twelve years earlier
than that. And they talked aboutbeing architects in the United
States at that time. It wastough to do. And so, Wright went
(26:58):
out on his own and started thefarm, and Alfred kind of fell
into that same idea of place tobe your own person, and to be
able to develop and be totallyfree from constraints, I think.
Doug Still (27:18):
How would you describe his personality? What
was he like?
Richard Polanski (27:22):
Well, he could be the sweetest man, quite
unbelievable in certain ways.
Most people are probablyfamiliar with Jehovah Witness,
where ther religious group comesand knocks on the door, and they
want to pass out some of theirinformation. And virtually every
year, some summer day, theywould show up way back into the
(27:46):
property and knock on the door.
And he would ask me to give thema glass of water, and we would
sit and talk for a few minutes.
And he would just be so sweetabout that. But he could also be
just a bear. The wrong person atthe wrong time? He would you
know, physically, just aboutphysically remove you, you know,
(28:12):
get out of here! (Doug laughs]Oh, it could be terrible. One of
his colleagues at the campus,Louis Johnson. Louis could come
and they would go off and talkabout bees or have these
conversations about the school.
(28:33):
And then two hours later, theycould be in a huge argument and
Louis would have to leave. [Thatwould be it] Yeah, yeah, and so
it was the full range.
Doug Still (28:45):
He knew how to get things done.
Richard Polanski (28:47):
He did. And at the same time, you didn't
realize how hard you wereworking. He was just so good at
that! And I remember readingsome some of it from his
memorial service, people who hadwritten about their experiences.
(29:07):
Students of his that so manypeople remarked that they had no
idea they were capable of somuch, that he got it out of them
in one way or another.
Doug Still (29:19):
That's amazing.
What's one of your favoritestories about him?
Richard Polanski (29:24):
Oh, gee, I've thought about all of these
things so many times. It's hardto place one because there's so
many. But I think in relation totrees, which were such a big
part of his life, and I don'tmean "tree" like a particular
(29:48):
tree, but trees and forests. Andafter many years of working
there we really didn't spendmuch time in the woods because
we were always doing buildingprojects. And we built a council
ring out in the woods, and thenhe wanted me to make a path
(30:10):
through the woods down aroundthe marsh and then to meet up in
a different location. Theinstructions were, this is just
great, instructions were, "Iwant a path that a blind man
walking in the dark will notstumble." [laughs]
Doug Still (30:30):
Okay! A good path.
Richard Polanski (30:34):
Yeah, right, right. And of course, but then
without disturbing the rootsthat are growing above the
ground. So it was quite a thing.
So I started in on it, laid outa few different areas where I
could do that and I showed him.
And then one day I was outwalking around in a part of the
(30:55):
woods that I hadn't seen before,and it was not filled with the
invasive species buckthorn,Rhamnus cathartica is it? So
that part of the forest was notinvaded and I went, "Jeez,
that's really interesting." So Iwas walking around in that part,
(31:17):
and I found a card table chair,you know, just a metal folding
chair, leaning up against atree. I went, "Well, I'll take
that up to the house." And solater when I was done, I took it
up there and I said, "I foundthis in the woods." "Put that
back!". [both laugh] That isreally a great story. It's him.
(31:44):
You know that that was his chairout in his words that he used.
Doug Still (31:50):
And what's a council ring?
Richard Polanski (31:51):
A council ring is, well, he got it from Jens
Jensen, the landscape architectswhom he worked for early on.
Alfred said he kind of saved himfrom, made him a man. To think
big thoughts, not just smallthoughts. So Jensen built these.
(32:16):
A council ring, they can be, theone we built is only about 15,
17 feet in diameter. And it's offieldstone, or not fieldstone,
I'm sorry. This one islimestone, flat rocks, stones
that we were able to get from aquarry up in central Wisconsin,
(32:39):
where we did go and he selectedspecial pieces of that have
those stones for certain spots.
So it's a circle, and it's about17 inches high, you know, a
decent sitting height. And therecould be a fire pit in the
middle like this one. But it'sfor sitting and talking and
meeting and being with people ina ring.
Doug Still (33:01):
Ron told me that he wrote poetry and short stories.
What's your experience withthose?
Richard Polanski (33:08):
Some things, I can think of the one that he had
me have engraved on the mantleof the beautiful, fabulous
fireplace in in his studio,which is a wooden structure. He
had me find someone to engrave,to cut into the stone. And the
(33:32):
poem is, "Wisconsin wood smoke,bright days will to slush and
golden rut." And that's a poemthat he wrote thinking about
when he worked for Jens Jensen,and he would drive into
Wisconsin looking for plantmaterial, trees, shrubs,
(33:56):
flowers, different things. Andhe would drive his old car. He
said that it had cardboard forthe floor and just holes in it.
And he would be driving throughthe countryside, and often in
the winter, driving along andyou see that in the winter every
(34:20):
house has a chimney with smokecoming out of it. And then as
the sun comes up on the snowy,icy roads, they turn to slush,
and then they get rutted, and sothere's the golden rut. So that
was his comment on those daysand working for Jensen.
Doug Still (34:43):
I later asked Richard about Mies van der Rohe
and Richard Caldwell. Do youremember the story of how they
met?
Richard Polanski (34:51):
That was when Mies and, I think, it was
Hilberseimer, or no Hilberseimercame later. Mies was, it was in
1938, and Mies was in Chicagobasically looking for a job, and
Alfred was working on the LilyPond on Fullerton, Lincoln Park.
(35:18):
Mies was there and happened tobe there and they start talking
and Mies got very interested inthis man, Alfred Caldwell. And
then that's really when it allstarted. And it wasn't I don't
know how long after that, butMies started calling Alfred
because Mies wanted Alfred toteach. And Alfred kept hanging
(35:44):
the phone up on him because ofMies' German accent. He thought
he was saying, "This is Me! Thisis Me!" [both laugh] He called
several times, he finallyrealized this is Mies van der
Rohe who was calling him.
[right] So then they did meetand went through, you know, they
had to figure out how to getAlfred into the school without
having any credentials otherthan what he could do.
Doug Still (36:09):
Jens Jensen had Alfred Caldwell to assist him as
did Mies van der Rohe, andAlfred Caldwell had you to
assist him. Do you have a"Richard Polanski" in your life
that you're passing some of thisinformation or knowledge down
(36:30):
to?
Richard Polanski (36:32):
Boy, that's quite a question. Well, my
orchard is my life, aside fromall the things that I've done
with with Alfred's things. And Ireally hope that I do have some
time now as I'm 72 and I can'tkeep doing all this orchard
work. But for me, there are someyoung people here at my orchard.
(36:56):
Rachel, who started working withme over at Caldwell's, and now
lives in the old farmhouse hereand is married. And there are
some young people in my lifethat I'm hoping that they will
continue our apple orchard here,which is an important thing to
me.
Doug Still (37:14):
I'm gonna let you go. But I really enjoyed talking
with you today and learningabout Alfred Caldwell and other
people in his life and yourwork. Some great stories. And I
really enjoyed it. So thank you.
Richard Polanski (37:28):
Well, thank you.
Doug Still (37:32):
And back to Ron.
Ron Henderson (37:34):
You know, I'm working on a new landscape
architecture master plan for thecampus with Chicago landscape
architect Shandra GoldsmithGray, and we're looking to
diversify the species becausethere are a few too many
honeylocusts in the overallproportion. And looking at
things like Kentuckycoffeetrees, and yellowwoods, as
(37:56):
well as the nut trees, thehickories and walnuts.
Doug Still (38:00):
Trees with compound leaves. [Exactly] Open forms...
Ron Henderson (38:03):
Compound leaves, open form. Almost all of them
have yellow fall foliage.
Doug Still (38:09):
Right, very nice.
You and your family are fromIndiana, which is smack in the
middle of the honeylocust'snatural range. Would you say
that you have a homegrownappreciation for this tree? And
what is it about the honeylocustthat speaks to you?
Ron Henderson (38:26):
I do not have a homegrown appreciation for the
honeylocust tree. I have ahomegrown appreciation of
chinkapin oaks and persimmons.
[both laugh] You know, this is Ithink this is a learned
appreciation almost an academicappreciation that grew out of
being an IIT. But I began tounderstand how its qualities are
(38:51):
so positive in this particularkind of setting. You know before
I had a deep understanding ofIIT, a place that I came to
about a decade ago, myappreciation for the honeylocust
was more focused on anotherproject in southern Indiana, in
(39:15):
Columbus, Indiana, which isanother center of modernism in
America. A small town with aremarkable collection of works
by modern architects andlandscape architects. There, the
landscape architect Dan Kiley,working in collaboration with
the architect Eero Saarinen andwith Alexander Girard, the
(39:38):
interior designer and graphicdesigner, worked on a project
for the Miller family who werethe owners of Cummins Engines.
And one of the great modernistgardens in America is the Miller
garden that was that grew out ofthat project. Kiley had a more
(39:59):
European sense of tree planting,whereas Caldwell planted drifts
of trees. Kiley planted gridsand allees and lines. A very
geometrically ordered spatialsequence of distinct rooms and
spaces using any number ofspecies. But iconically at the
(40:25):
Miller garden, is an allee ofhoneylocusts that almost are
like a landscape logia betweenthe living room of the house,
looking out over the great lawnthat that rolls down to to the
river.
Doug Still (40:45):
Yeah, very beautiful.
Ron Henderson (40:46):
It is, it is. And those are much different trees.
Kiley selected trees that were alittle more insistent. So the
trunks were the same diameter,they're a little bit more
straight trunk. Whereas Caldwellmight look to find the most
(41:06):
gnarly, asymmetrical tree, Kileywould try and find matched
trees.
Doug Still (41:12):
So most likely, Caldwell selected that tree
outside Crown Hall.
Ron Henderson (41:16):
Oh, for almost certainly. He selected all of
the trees for his projects.
Doug Still (41:22):
And is that in a drift, or is that on its own?
Ron Henderson (41:25):
It's part of a little grove.
Doug Still (41:29):
You said it's covered in thorns, and I assume
seedpods? [Yes] Which isinteresting. But around this
time, a new variety ofhoneylocusts was developed and
patented, which you described inthis in your article, at
Siebenthaler Nursery in Ohio.
How did that play into how thehoneylocust was planted and
(41:51):
approached in the followingdecades?
Ron Henderson (41:55):
So the native honeylocust has very sharp,
pronounced thorns that grow outof the trunk. Native Americans
used those thorns as needles andfor sewing leather. So they're
very sharp. And yes, they havevery large seed pods. They're in
(42:19):
the pea family. So they're likebig pea pods with a very
leathery casing. And, you know,maybe they average somewhere
around 8 to 12 inches long.
Those two characteristics -thorns which could hurt people,
and the pods which become litterin a urban setting or...
Doug Still (42:43):
And there are a lot of them.
Ron Henderson (42:44):
...and there are a lot of them. Those are less
desirable, although I love them.
And on an aside, the honeylocustRight, he would have had that
available to him [Yes] this new,range, as you noted, was in the
Midwest. Over the last severalmillennia, the range of the
honeylocust has retreatedbecause those seed pods were
(43:05):
symbiotic, had a symbioticrelationship as food for
megafauna. So giant sloths andmastodons were able to eat the
leathery seed pods. They wouldbe scarified as they were
digested. And so thatrelationship between megafauna
(43:26):
and the honeylocust is such thatif you go to the Field Museum
here in Chicago, and you see thediorama is with these megafauna
painted on the walls behind themare honey locusts. And so the
pods, they're hard for othersmaller fauna to digest. So
(43:49):
their range had been reduced.
But it also meant that in the20th century, that was not a
very desirable trait. So theSiebenthaler Nursery, my
the new cultivars. But he chosenot to use it.
understanding is they discovereda tree not far from from their
(44:11):
nursery, a honeylocust tree thatdidn't have seed pods, and was
thornless, so they began topropagate it. And so that
variety, the 'Moraine'honeylocust, grew out of their
nursery and was one of the firstin fact I believe it was the
(44:32):
first shade tree patented inAmerica after the Plant Patent
Act from the 1930s. So Caldwelllargely use the thorny pod tree.
Kiley, on the other hand,selected Gledistia triacanthos
(44:56):
inermis as it's known, which isthe thornless seedless variety
for the Miller garden inColumbus, Indiana.
Doug Still (45:05):
Now, I called Siebenthaler Nursery at your
urging prior to this interviewand spoke with Jeff
Siebenthaler. And he said thatthe original 'moraine' tree no
longer exists. The particularfield where it was has been
plowed under and is now housingdevelopment or something. [Of
course] He described it, sothere's Gleditsia triacanthos
(45:31):
inermis, which is the varietyand then 'moraine' as a cultivar
of that. But the 'moraine'unfortunately, or fortunately I
don't know or how we look at it,is not seen in the nursery trade
much anymore. There are manydifferent other cultivars that
are used prominently.
Ron Henderson (45:48):
Yeah, there are 'Skyline' and many..
Doug Still (45:52):
'Shademaster.'
Ron Henderson (45:52):
'Shademaster,' that's right.
Doug Still (45:54):
Other ones. So I have one last question for you.
When you walk by this treenearly every day, or at least
very often, what passes throughyour mind when you see it?
Ron Henderson (46:08):
Giants sloths.
Doug Still (46:09):
[Laughs] Very interesting. I had no idea.
Ron Henderson (46:15):
So I teach plants and design in our landscape
architecture and urbanismprogram. And for that class, the
first day of the class, I do awalk around the campus. And I
start with that tree. It's thefirst tree that I that I bring
the students to. We walk out ofCrown Hall, walk down the
(46:37):
travertine steps, walk to the tothe east, 30 feet or 40 feet,
and we start talking about theworld that that tree embodies.
It's Bauhaus, it's modernism,it's giant sloths, it's the
quality of the light. It's theshape of the trunk and the
(47:00):
branching, it's the shadows thatare cast on the glass walls of
Crown Hall. It's the texture ofthe light that penetrates into
their studios where they'reworking. So much gets embodied
in that one tree. So my campuswalk is about an hour and 45
(47:21):
minutes, but I spend 30 minutesor more, just at that one tree.
Doug Still (47:29):
We were talking about giving it a name and I was
thinking, why not the Mies vander Rohe honeylocust? But with
your talk about Alfred Caldwelland his influence, I don't know,
we'll have to come up withsomething different.
Ron Henderson (47:45):
We do refer to the space to the south of Crown
Hall as the 'Alfred CaldwellGrove' or as the 'Caldwell
Grove.' So it's interesting thatwe we don't have a particular
name for this one tree. So wetend to just refer to that
collection as the 'CaldwellGrove.'
Doug Still (48:07):
The 'Caldwell Grove.' Okay. Thanks for joining
me today, I really enjoyed ourconversation.
Ron Henderson (48:13):
Same here as always, Doug, let's plant some
more trees. [Music]
Doug Still (48:17):
We'll do take care.
Well, I ended up calling it theMies van der Rohe Honeylocust in
the Alfred Caldwell Grove. Ron,I hope that's okay, maybe it'll
catch on. And thanks again forelevating the honeylocust tree
in my eyes, and the view ofhistory. And now it's time for
the segment Tree Story Shorts,where listeners can share a
(48:42):
story about a tree in theirlives. Here's Tom Brennan of
Coventry, Rhode Island. [Music]
Tom Brennan (48:53):
This is Tom Brennan with an "Ode to the Lone Tree."
At the corner of two welltraveled roads, stands a field
of tall grass, and in the centerof that grass stands a lone
tree. I do not know what kind oftree nor what kind of grass. I
(49:13):
have always assumed that it wasa hayfield and thought of the
man who would cut it as thefarmer. Maybe I'm right, or
maybe he is just a guy who movesthe grass every now and then.
But one thing is certain. He hasalways mowed around the lone
tree. He has never cut it down,he has always respected the
(49:36):
tree. Perhaps as many of us do,revered it for its beauty and
its uniqueness, its abjectperfection. Maybe it was that,
or maybe he has just neverbothered. Perhaps it was simply
less trouble to mow around it.
Whatever the case, year in andyear out, the tree has stood.
For my whole career of thirtyyears in this, the largest of
(50:00):
town in the smallest of states,that tree has stood in that
field and on that corner, asilent witness to the seasons
and to the growth of the townaround it. Thousands of people
have stopped to photograph thelone tree. The lone tree has
never objected, never demured,never been asked for nor signed
(50:20):
an autograph or a release form.
It has changed, as we allchange, yet it has never changed
at all. Ever stable, everbeautiful, ever stately. Its
proportions exactly correct. Aperfect specimen of whatever
(50:41):
species of tree it is. Under itsbranches countless birds have
nested, around its base athousand rabbits have been born,
in its field as many woodchuckshave raised their young. Deer
have nibbled at its lowerbranches, young lovers have sat
in it shade. The lone tree seesall, knows all, keeps all their
(51:05):
secrets. Now, the hayfield ifthat's what it is, is to be
developed. Condominiums theysay. And they say such ideas
have been proposed in the past,but the construction, or the
destruction, has never happened.
Am I selfish when I hope that itnever does? When I hope that the
(51:26):
farmer keeps on mowing and thelone tree keeps on...tree-ing?
Well, then I am selfish, becauseI hope the lone tree remains for
many, many more seasons. Morebirds, and more bunnies. More
woodchucks and more deer. Morelovers, and more secrets.
Doug Still (51:49):
[Music] I'm going to end it there. I'm Doug still,
and thank you tree lovers forjoining me today on This Old
Tree. If you liked the show, oneway to show your support is to
hit the subscribe button on yourpodcast app, and that way we're
easy to find the next time youwant to listen. You can get
links and information about ourguests in the show notes, and
(52:12):
see photos and other relatedtree stuff if you follow This
Old Tree on Instagram orFacebook and now Mastodon. Also,
if you'd like to submit a one tothree minute Tree Story Short
about an important tree in yourlife, you can record it on the
Voice Memo app on your phone andemail it to me. I'd love to hear
from you. Here's arborist andsongwriter Dee Lee to take us
(52:34):
out. Have a great day.
This Old Tree song - Dee L (52:37):
This old tree, standing here for more
than four centuries. I wonderwhat you'd say if you could talk
to me about what it's like tobe, this old tree. Shadow and
(52:57):
shade, kids down the block areselling lemonade. Send them down
to cool breezes sweet cascade,tailor made by this old tree. In
(53:18):
1600 you were just a seed,reaching bothers sky, high.
Waiting for a chance to takeyour place in the warm sunshine.
Here I go, high above the placewhere the people grow, leave my
(53:47):
troubles on the ground farbelow, so I can get to know,
this old tree. Summer sparke inyour leaves. Autumn winds will
(54:11):
bring relief. Winter calls foryou to sleep. Spring returns
again in green. But the town -ships on the water side spy your
(54:41):
royal crown. Sentinal of green,two points off starboard bow,
homeward bound to this old tree.
In 1800 you felt the thunder orroll, lightning split the sky,
high. Though the fire raged inthe little town below, you
(55:08):
managed to survive, this scarupon your side. This old tree,
reach out and touch a livinghistory! Beneath my hands an
ancient mystery, how small I amby this old tree. How small I am
(55:36):
by this old tree.
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