Lucky tree...Last week we noticed ominous lines of pencil sized holes in the bark of a large poplar on the southern border of our Garden on 89th Street. The tree was already large when the West Side Community Garden was established in 1975, and survived the various building cycles which resulted in a neighboring townhouse development and the landscaping of our permanent Garden site. The Poplar tree was almost a goner when lightning struck it in August 1988. It survived, and now bears a long pale vertical scar along the north side of its trunk, as a reminder of the summer storm. Tom Thies, head of our Flower and Greenhouse regiments, noticed the holes first and alerted me during a walkthrough last Wednesday with some of our funders and supporters. Heavy hearted, I called 311 after the visitors left, and asked for the Asian Longhorn Beetle hotline. The young man manning the line is part of the Parks Department, and we went over the specifics of location and types of nearby trees. The beetles not only enjoy Poplar, they also would like our Birch trees, Plum and Crab Apple trees. I didn't think to ask him about the airy Sappora trees that shade the table or the rare Tibetan Cedars. While I was on the line I also checked the other Poplar tree in the property, located on the border of the vegetable garden and the 90th Street playground.. That tree is very large and grand and probably the largest tree below 110th outside of Central and Riverside Parks. It has no holes. Going back to the 89th Street Poplar, the hotline guy asked me to take a pencil or pen and see if it fit into the holes, and to check their depth. The tree looked healthy and our garden Mockingbird twittered in the branches as I approached. The holes were about a third of an inch deep. There was no sawdust about. The hotline mentioned there is also a possibility the holes are from birds, and promised to send an inspection crew out to look things over as soon as possible. This morning I heard again from Tom, who had contacted our regular tree pruning guys to come and take a look. They tell us it is highly likely that the holes were drilled by Yellow Sapsucker birds dropping by for a snack on their way north this spring. Keep your fingers crossed... lucky tree.

Memories of Buffalo... The recent stories about the Buffalo Fireman who regained his memory , and the proposed sainthood of Father Baker brought back memories of second grade back at PS 68 on Westminster Avenue in Buffalo. The ultimate threat from a teacher - even in public school- was " if you're not good we'll send you to Father Bakers." Father Bakers was widely known in Buffalo children's culture as a correctional orphanage for bad boys. The threat had teeth, because we all knew that parents who had too much to handle could make arrangements to ship an errant son off to Father Bakers. Big boys in the neighborhood working on their cars in the back yard would regale us with tales of deprivation and whippings at Father Bakers. Once a year the Buffalo Courier Express featured a story about the yearly Christmas party at the orphanage, with pictures of thin little tykes getting toys, and the older boys getting socks. It was said the boys slept in dormitories, and wore hand me downs. We'd make fun of kids in the playground by saying they got their clothes from Father Bakers. Now that time has padded some distance on the Father Baker story - and a symbol of terror from my childhood is being exalted. What else is weird is seeing the "Our Lady of Victory Basilica " getting press. Our Lady of Victory Basilica is a huge Italianate over- the- top structure on the border between Buffalo and Lackawanna. Originally built in white marble, pollution from the steel plants and factories turned it bright yellow. The whole area was engulfed in a horrible stink from sulfide gas. The nearby Buffalo river was so polluted that it caught on fire. The surrounding Lackawanna and South Buffalo neighborhoods consisted of workers hovels - A cheap two story wood frame house built in the twenties would have a tunnel of two or three tiny shack like houses built on the back of each other, extending into the back yard and filling the entire lot. The area was so low class that nice people ignored the Basilica as a sort of a Folly. My father would take the route past it on the way to the beach when the lake road was blocked with traffic, and occasionally we would visit the South Park Conservatory and Gardens located across the street. When the steel plants and factories went out of business, the smell abated and people rediscovered the Basilica on Buffalo's south side as a pilgrimage destination. The trip is actually enjoyable, and you can get world class "Beef on Weck" while you're there.