Whether he did or did not cut down that cherry tree, George Washington loved trees. He planted hundreds on his Mount Vernon estate in Fairfax County, Va.
And, by George, Washington University in St. Louis has a direct descendent of one of those trees on its Danforth Campus.
In the early 1990s, 60 tulip poplar seedlings descended from Washington’s own trees were sent to presidential sites and Washington namesakes around the country.
The seedlings were descendants from one of two poplars planted by Washington in 1785 that are still standing on the bowling green at Mount Vernon.
The seedlings were a result of a special hand pollination project conducted in 1989 by the American Forestry Association, the National Arboretum and the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.
WUSTL received its seedling in April 1991, and it was planted just north of Ridgley Hall, near the north side entrance to Holmes Lounge.
It is one of only 12 offspring of Washington’s tulip poplars that survive today, according to Leland Gamson, who assisted Mount Vernon’s horticulturist, J. Dean Norton, in dispatching the seedlings in 1991.
Gamson says that of the five tulip poplar trees that were sent to colleges and universities that bear Washington’s name, WUSTL’s tree is the only surviving one.
Kent Theiling, WUSTL’s grounds and landscape design manager, says that not only does the tree survive, but it also thrives, measuring 21.5 inches in diameter.
“Among the 48 sites whose trees died were five presidential libraries,” Gamson said. “The fact that your tree survives reflects well on Washington University’s care and pride in its campus and connection to your name sake.”
Home to roughly 4,000 trees, the Arbor Day Foundation recently announced that WUSTL is a Tree Campus USA for the fourth year in a row.
And the St. Louis Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects is presenting its highest award to the Washington University Campus Tree Master Plan during its winter party and awards celebration at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, at the Soulard Preservation Hall.
Theiling and Arthur J. Ackermann, associate vice chancellor for facilities planning & management, will accept the Award of Excellence – Planning, Research and Communications on behalf of WUSTL, along with a representative from SWT Design, a St. Louis planning and landscape architecture firm, that helped develop the plan.
Gamson recently sent a plaque to Theiling that was placed beside the tree. The plaque reads: “Tulip poplar planted in 1991 is a direct offshoot of one planted by George Washington in Mt. Vernon in 1785.”
In addition to honoring the nation’s first president, the university founders selected the name Washington University because the university’s charter was passed in 1853 on Washington’s birthday, Feb. 22.