I planted this tulip tree [Liriondendron tulipifera], also known as tulip poplar, yellow poplar, canary whitewood, in my front yard sixteen years ago. It was a foot high. It is now over twenty feet high. It bloomed prodigiously for the first time this year. The flowers are so pale they sometimes are invisible. The sapling emigrated from western Massachusetts in a Folger's coffee can which was nestled in an old box stuffed with outdated sheets of the New York Times. No one took notice when we crossed the borders of New Hampshire and Maine. It was indistinguishable from other saplings: a long and thin wisp of a twig. Intentionally setting forth to transplant one's self might seem as simple as the journey made by this young tree. No guarantees.