Anne W. Semmes
On a moonlit evening last Thursday night some 70 tree lovers filled the greenhouses at the Sam Bridge Nursery to see what Treasured Trees were chosen by the Greenwich Tree Conservancy (GTC) as prize winners in this fifth year of the GTC contest.
“This year we had more submissions than ever,” shared Sam Bridge III who heads up his Nursery and serves as a judge, “So it was a little harder to pick the winners.” Judging with Bridge from those 30 submissions was John Conte, local horticulturist but not present. But not difficult, surely, was their grand prize winner choice. “It’s an absolutely stunning Split Leaf Maple,” said Bridge. “It’s just beautiful, sitting in front of their house [“Easterly”] on Field Point Cricle. It’s huge. It’s really old. It’s one of the largest of its type I’ve seen and probably the largest in Greenwich if not Connecticut.”
Owner Susan Bevan was not present, but she described its branching as “very sculptural” in her entry essay, adding, “It’s beautiful in every season,” and in winter, “the morning sunrises coming through it are spectacular.”
A great White Oak came in second. “It’s the Connecticut state tree,” said Bridge. “And usually you see them in forests, so you don’t get to see the full size of them. But this one is out on its own and it’s an absolutely gorgeous tree.” And owner Karen Gregory was there to tell the tree tale. “I’ve had people tell me it’s over 600 years old,” she shared, with its trunk circumference measuring 19-feet, five inches. “And we’ve lived in our home [in back country] 43 and a half plus years and so it’s our family tree, where we raised our children with strong values and watched them grow and branch out…three kids and seven grandkids.”
And Gregory added, “because I’m so sentimental,” she’d sent a small fallen branch of the tree to an artist friend with a hobby of making things out of wood. “He made pens out of the wood with the initials of each of our children, white oak, and the year. So, it’s very special to us.”
So, there were two third place winners in a difficult choosing (followed by a 5th, 6th, and two honorable mentions!). A Horse Chestnut tree took center stage as a third-place winner. “It has survived a lot of the power company’s pruning,” introduced Bridge, “but it’s still doing pretty well.” It grows in front of Mary Henderson’s house on Riverside Avenue. And Henderson told its story starting in 2001 when she and her family were moving back from Zimbabwe where her husband Mark was with the United Nations, and their search for a house.
“And so, we drove around Riverside,” with their realtor, seeing “all sorts of cute little Cape Cods and houses that had just been renovated.” But then came that house that was an “utter wreck” on the corner of Meyer and Riverside. “But in the front yard was this magnificent Copper Beech.” And Henderson declared, “That’s the house I want.”
“It was our first house,” she continued, “So, the tree was very dear to me and that was what made me want this house. It was a long process of bringing that house back to life, but the tree has always been there standing right above my study window and we love it dearly.” But “What would be a majestic, gloriously shaped canopy,” she wrote in her entry essay, “has been humbled in the service of domestic and public safety and power lines, but its huge trunk lovingly stood watch over the children who played in its shade and carved their initials in its bark. We are now nurturing three of its offspring that we hope to transplant someday to our last-chapter home and the homes of our two sons.”
Another Chestnut tree was the tied third place winner, but a rarer variety. “This beautiful Chinese Chestnut,” introduced Bridge, “is a really unique tree.” Its co-proposer, Marguerite Vauclair had shared, “There’s only three of them in town according to the GTC.” And its location is in Putnam Park, told Bridge, “That has some very mature and really interesting trees in it.” And that is where realtor Vauclair lives, as does co-proposer Kurt Spelling.
The two both have treasured the Chinese Chestnut and wished to honor and commemorate this tree for the historical record, “because of its magnificence,” wrote Vauclair in the entry essay, “its fanfare of captivating blooms and chestnuts, notable size (height), notable age and notable history, having graced the expansive [former] Tweed/Milbank estate and now gracing what became in 1950 a residential courtyard in the Putnam Park complex on Milbank Avenue.” And Vauclair just happens to be listing realtor for an apartment for sale that overlooks that Pennsylvania building courtyard setting of the Chinese Chestnut Tree.
What was also remarkable with this year’s Treasured Trees were the numerous magnolia trees proposed with three winning placements of a fifth, a sixth and an Honorable Mention. The species included two Southern Magnolia and a Saucer Magnolia, bringing this remark from the present Dr. Gregory Kramer, Town Tree Warden and Superintendent of Parks and Trees. “I happen to be a lover of magnolia trees, all types and kinds of magnolia trees. I’ve never met a magnolia tree I didn’t like.”
“My wife [Reba] is a southern lady who grew up in North Carolina and has never forgotten about magnolia trees,” told Dave Williams, addressing their Honorable Mention for their Southern Magnolia. “So, she proceeded to plant magnolia trees where there was a little bit of spare ground and some of them really grew into impressive trees for which we thank [garden designer] Matt McMillan.” “And she has this one chair that she likes to sit in,” added McMillan, “and it looks out at a pond. And on the other side of the pond is this [magnolia] tree with a fountain in front of it. And she spends almost all of her time now sitting in that chair looking at this tree. It makes me happy.”
And happy should be Greenwich citizenry knowing that over the last 16 years GTC has planted over 5,600 trees across town, shared Urling Searle GTC board chair. “And we have labeled over 1,000 trees in our town wide arboretum.” And finally, with help from the Department of Public Works, reported Searle, “the city has pulled up pavement, and we have planted trees [on Mill Street] in downtown Byram. And that is a small but mighty accomplishment.”
“We also hope to begin the first phase of planting a much larger planting along Route One,” added Searle. “So, keep your fingers crossed and look out for new trees there because that’ll make a big difference. Basically, we’re always trying to find great places to plant for the future health of the community.”
Lastly, JoAnn Messina, GTC executive director announced an upcoming Veteran’s Day Tree Walk in Byram’s Eugene Morlot Memorial Park on Saturday November 11 at 1 p.m., with Tree Warden Greg Kramer leading the walk. To register visit https://greenwichtreeconservancy.org/upcoming-events/
