A pear tree that miraculously survived the Sept. 11 terror attack blossomed at ground zero on the first day of spring.
The "Survivor Tree" — as it's been dubbed — was discovered amid the smoldering rubble, limbs lifeless, roots snapped, trunk blackened.
Workers freed it and it was nursed back to health in a Bronx park.
Now topping 30 feet — four times its size in 2001 — it towers above newly planted trees in Memorial Plaza at the World Trade Center.
On Tuesday, the survivor sprouted white blossoms, seen for the first time by visitors to the 9/11 memorial that opened last September.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called the tree a testament to New York's "ability to endure and a symbol of our unshakeable belief in a brighter future."
Copyright AP - Associated Press
