The Tree That Refused to Stay Buried

In October 2001, recovery workers sifting through the wreckage at Ground Zero discovered a Callery pear tree beneath the rubble — snapped nearly in half, roots charred black, with one living branch. By every reasonable measure, it should have been dead. Parks Department workers transported it to a nursery in the Bronx, where caretakers spent years coaxing it back. Against all odds, green shoots pushed through the blackened trunk.…