Like most guys who have seen "Desparate Housewives," when Eva Longoria's character, Gabrielle, had an affair with the gardener, I thought, "lucky gardener!" But I also thought Gabrielle was lucky, too. I wish I had a gardener. Of course, it would mean having a garden, which I don't. Gardens are rare spectacles for those of us who live in the city. Especially those of us who are so green thumb-impaired we can't even grow mold.

		More information For more information about the Lawrenceville Tree Tenders, contact Lisa Pilewski at lisa@lawrencevillecorp.com or 412-782-5100, ext. 102.

But that changed a couple of weeks ago. I opened my front door on a Saturday morning to find two women pulling weeds out of the tree on the street in front of my house. Molly Stephany and Lisa Pilewski are part of a neighborhood volunteer operation called Lawrenceville Tree Tenders. "A Tree Tender's job is to help maintain the trees by weeding, mulching, pruning and looking for disease," said Ms. Pilewski, who is the manager of operations and outreach for the Lawrenceville Corp. "I never really paid much attention to trees," she confessed, "until the other volunteers got me fired up about the impact trees can have on commercial areas like Butler Street."

The trees haven't always been there. In 1999, the Pittsburgh Shade Tree Commission provided a grant of 180 trees to line Penn and Butler. Once the trees were planted, volunteer tree stewards were appointed to care for certain trees on certain blocks. This eventually evolved into the current Lawrenceville Tree Tenders project, one of several groups in city neighborhoods that have ardor for their arbor. The city recently provided a two-hour "tree training" class for all those interested in learning to prune.

"If you took the training, we gave you a pruner," said Ms. Pilewski. "If not, we encouraged you to stick to weeding and mulching." Ms. Stephany took the training class. She was one of the recipients of a tree six years ago and is willing to work to keep a little nature nearby. Growing up in Cranberry when it was still largely farmland, Ms. Stephany likes the way the trees transform her urban setting. "It's nice to break up all that concrete with some agriculture," she said, "I get such a friendly, comfortable feeling when I am walking under the trees."

Every day as I walk my dog (instead of tending to nonexistent plants in my nonexistent garden), I am thankful for the trees. I am thankful for their shade, their color and their beauty. My dog is thankful for other reasons. I am also thankful for Lisa, Molly and the rest the 100 volunteers who take care of the trees for me.