The winter sun shone across my back at a severe angle. Its light cast thousands of shadows over the brown lawn below my feet and the dormant shrubs huddled along the neighborhood street. With a shovel in hand, I marched toward the hickory tree leaning over the stream flowing beside my yard. Invasive vines had spent the growing season creeping up the scrappy tree. After several frosts sent the vines into hibernation and coaxed the hickory out of its leafy coat, the tree’s solitary position was ...