The Travelers Update: A Moon Tree Grows in New York
The director of horticulture at Madison Square Park, Stephanie Lucas, spends her days caring for over 300 trees in the heart of New York City. One day in 2022, she saw a callout from NASA giving away seeds that had traveled to the moon. This would be the crown jewel of the park! She and her team worked hard on their application, submitted it, and then waited for two years. Eventually they gave up. Until one day, Stephanie got a call from NASA telling her to check her spam inbox. A week later, a cardboard box arrived at the park.
The tree - an American sweetgum - has been growing in the park for a year. Lulu and Producerbud Ana went to see it, met Stephanie, and imagined how this little sapling might grow one day.
If you’d like to see it yourself with the Terrestrials team, come to our Moon Tree Launch Party happening from 4-8 PM on July 16th at Madison Square Park! It’s FREE, open to the public, and full of moon-tree magic: we’ll be showcasing our Moon Tree drawing contest submissions, inviting park-goers to make their own art, and giving folks a chance to meet Songbud Alan (who may or may not have a real half Moon Tree seed). See you there!
We also hear a brand-new poem from New York State Poet Laureate Kimiko Hahn and revisit our episode about astronaut Stu “Smokey” Roosa and the origin story of Moon Trees.
