Jun 9, 2017

Photos and text by Karl Merton Ferron

: A State Champion Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) grows in a secluded area at Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: Once a stately tree, the Amur Cork tree (Phellodendron amurense) at Patterson Park fell victim to an aggressive trimming by a contractor some years ago. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: A State Champion Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) grows in a secluded area at Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: The owner of this “Monkey Puzzle Tree, a Chilean Pine (Araucaria araucana) thinks that the tree may have been named such because monkeys would have a difficult time climbing the evergreen because of its extremely sharp leaves. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: The “Al Capone tree,” a City Champion weeping cherry (Prunus subhirtella ‘Pendula’) still grows at Union Memorial Hospital on 33rd Street, one notable tree inside Baltimore City. Reports state that Capone visited the hospital for treatment in 1939, and he subsequently donated two weeping cherry trees as a gesture of thanks for their hospitality. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: A small green branch reaches from the trunk of a Baltimore City Champion Bald Cypress (Taxodium, distichum) reaches above the canopy of other trees at Evesham Park, off Northern Parkway. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: The “Al Capone tree,” a City Champion weeping cherry (Prunus subhirtella ‘Pendula’) still grows at Union Memorial Hospital on 33rd Street, one notable tree inside Baltimore City. Reports state that Capone visited the hospital for treatment in 1939, and he subsequently donated two weeping cherry trees as a gesture of thanks for their hospitality. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: Once a stately tree, the Amur Cork tree (Phellodendron amurense) at Patterson Park fell victim to an aggressive trimming by a contractor, some years ago. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: The “Al Capone tree,” a City Champion weeping cherry (Prunus subhirtella ‘Pendula’) still grows at Union Memorial Hospital on 33rd Street, one notable tree inside Baltimore City. Reports state that Capone visited the hospital for treatment in 1939, and he subsequently donated two weeping cherry trees as a gesture of thanks for their hospitality. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: The Frederick Douglass Memorial Tree – an English Elm (Ulmas porcera) spreads shade on Sharp Street at Hermitage Park in Otterbein, near Oriole Park at Camden Yards, one notable tree inside Baltimore City. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: The Frederick Douglass Memorial Tree – an English Elm (Ulmas porcera) spreads shade on Sharp Street at Hermitage Park in Otterbein, near Oriole Park at Camden Yards, one notable tree inside Baltimore City. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: The Frederick Douglass Memorial Tree – an English Elm (Ulmas porcera) spreads shade on Sharp Street at Hermitage Park in Otterbein, near Oriole Park at Camden Yards. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: A squirrel looks up for two others who dart about the trunk of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Tree – an English Elm (Ulmas porcera) spreads shade on Sharp Street at Hermitage Park in Otterbein, near Oriole Park at Camden Yards. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: A State Champion Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera) grows in a secluded area at Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: Winged seeds, called “double samaras,” grow on Cylburn Arboretum’s champion Sugar Maple (Acer Saccharum Acerceae). (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: The high branches on Cylburn Arboretum’s champion Sugar Maple (Acer Saccharum Acerceae) are dead and barren while leaves on its lower branches still live beneath the sun. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: The owner of this “Monkey Puzzle Tree, a Chilean Pine (Araucaria araucana) thinks that the tree may have been named such because monkeys would have a difficult time climbing the evergreen because of its extremely sharp leaves. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: The owner of this “Monkey Puzzle Tree, a Chilean Pine (Araucaria araucana) thinks that the tree may have been named such because monkeys would have a difficult time climbing the evergreen because of its extremely sharp leaves. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: The “Al Capone tree,” a City Champion weeping cherry (Prunus subhirtella ‘Pendula’) still grows at Union Memorial Hospital on 33rd Street, one notable tree inside Baltimore City. Reports state that Capone visited the hospital for treatment in 1939, and he subsequently donated two weeping cherry trees as a gesture of thanks for their hospitality. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: The “Al Capone tree,” a City Champion weeping cherry (Prunus subhirtella ‘Pendula’) still grows at Union Memorial Hospital on 33rd Street, one notable tree inside Baltimore City. Reports state that Capone visited the hospital for treatment in 1939, and he subsequently donated two weeping cherry trees as a gesture of thanks for their hospitality. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: A City Champion Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea), left, seems quite healthy on the grounds of Clifton Park Golf Course, but a smaller one at right, is completely brown and probably dead. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: Once a stately tree, the Amur Cork tree (Phellodendron amurense) at Patterson Park fell victim to an aggressive trimming by a contractor some years ago. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: A Baltimore City Champion Bald Cypress (Taxodium, distichum) reaches above the canopy of other trees at Evesham Park off Northern Parkway. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: A Baltimore City Champion Bald Cypress (Taxodium, distichum) reaches above the canopy of other trees at Evesham Park. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: A Baltimore City Champion Bald Cypress (Taxodium, distichum) reaches above the canopy of other trees at Evesham Park. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: The website mdbigtrees.com presumes may be evidence of a lightning strike from years ago shows on a Baltimore City Champion Bald Cypress (Taxodium, distichum) reaches above the canopy of other trees at Evesham Park. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: The website mdbigtrees.com presumes may be evidence of a lightning strike from years ago shows on a Baltimore City Champion Bald Cypress (Taxodium, distichum) reaches above the canopy of other trees at Evesham Park. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: The root system spreads just beneath the soil from a Baltimore City Champion Bald Cypress (Taxodium, distichum), background, which reaches above the canopy of other trees at Evesham Park. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

: A City Champion Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea) seems quite healthy on the grounds of Clifton Park Golf Course in Baltimore City. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

What began as a quest to find the city’s more notable trees became a reflection on the cycle of life. Using a list of large trees in the city from the website mdbigtrees.com the search revealed a number of longtime landmarks are now now gone. Those listings reflect a living and ever-changing directory: Druid Hill Park’s iconic Osage Orange tree (Maclura pomifera) was toppled by Hurricane Sandy in 2012; an English Elm (Ulmus campestris) planted in the early 1700s was removed from the grounds of the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine building when it threatened Davidge Hall in 2002; and an 87-foot-tall Swamp White Oak (Quercus bicolor) in Herring Run Park which was killed when a set of porta potties set up below its branches were torched.

Of those notable trees living today, there are still concerns for their health, like the “Frederick Douglas Tree,” an English Elm that some people believe had been planted by Douglass when he was a child. The orator addressed Baltimoreans beneath the same limbs, in 1878. Residents claim that its larger branches have begun breaking off. Cylburn Arboretum’s champion Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) advances toward its final day in a quiet corner west of the mansion, while workers planted 62 young trees around the grounds. Believed to have been mortally struck by too much water to its roots, the Sugar Maple stands just two miles from what’s believed to be Baltimore’s only “Monkey Puzzle Tree” the victim of a recent drought. Its owners must wait for an official determination whether their Chilean Pine (Araucaria araucana) is now dead. Glad that a photographer happened to visit to document their evergreen’s final days standing, the tree’s demise is one of the sadder things they’ve experienced, after planting the sapling – a housewarming gift – more than 30 years ago.

Baltimore’s big trees

Leave a Reply Cancel