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

Photo: Andrea Mohin/The New York Times

John 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]

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