I had mentioned in a previous post about Tolkien’s opposition of machinery in favor of trees. Carpenter elaborates on Tolkien’s love for trees in chapter two of his biography:
(Tolkien) was more interested in the shape and feel of a plant than in its botanical details. This was especially true of trees. And though he liked drawing trees he liked most of all to be with trees. He would climb them, lean against them, even talk to them.