For this Holiday Weekend, hear the year of the #BLTrees series in two days.  Today, November 2021's kick-off through the May check-in. 

Listeners were invited to pick a tree and follow it through the year as we checked in every month with Marielle Anzelone, botanist and founder of NYC Wildflower Week (.org), who proposed the series, and a different guest each month:

November:  Chris Martine, professor of Plant Genetics and Research at Bucknell University, YouTube host of "Plants are Cool Too!", and the co-author of Trees of New Jersey and the Mid-Atlantic States, who explains what defines a tree.

December: Regina Alvarez, assistant professor of biology at Dominican College and former director of Urban Horticulture and Woodland Management at the Central Park Conservancy, who explains what's happening with the trees in winter.

January: Ming Kuo, psychologist and associate professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences and the director of The Landscape and Human Health Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, who talks about how trees have been shown to contribute to human health and well-being.

February: Myla Aronson, professor in the Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources department at Rutgers University, director of the Hutcheson Memorial Forest, one of the last remaining old growth forests in New Jersey, and co-director of Urban Biodiversity Research Coordination Network (UrBioNet), explains what makes a "forest" beyond a group of trees.

March: Georgia Silvera Seamans, director of the Washington Square Park Eco Projects, founder of Local Nature Lab and a member of the #BlackBotanistsWeek organizing committee, explains what's happening with trees in spring.

April: Jennifer Greenfeld, New York City Parks assistant commissioner for forestry, horticulture, and natural resources, talks about the care of street trees.

May: Desiree Narango, a conservation scientist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst working in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service, talks about the relationship of birds and trees, at the height of the spring migration.

NOTE: These interviews were lightly edited for time and clarity; the original web versions are available through the #BLTrees series page.