Saying Goodbye to an old friend

by: Janet Douberly, Media Manager

​​If you've been a fan of the garden for a while you may have gotten to see the slow demise of one of our biggest and most iconic trees in the garden.
This hackberry tree has graced the entrance to the lower garden since the beginning of Downtown Greens and earlier.
Its huge branches swooped elegantly down, enticing visitors to enter a seemingly magical place.

Our tree in all its former glory.

Unfortunately, in the summer of 2021 a huge storm came through and tore off its lowest, swoopiest branch. It was sad to see but we know it's the nature of, well, nature. The branch was chopped up and used in different areas of the garden.
Then the following winter we got a big snowstorm when two more branches took a tumble, leaving the once majestic tree looking a bit ragged. (But eventually providing a lot of wood chips for the garden paths and beds!) It was decided then that the tree really needed to be taken down.
Of course, before we could make that happen, another summer storm blew through (summer of 2022) and took down another branch, leaving the tree with just two branches at its very top and lots of raw wood showing where the other branches used to be.

So, it finally happened. We called in the professionals they removed the rest of the branches and half the trunk. We are leaving the rest of the trunk where it is. No longer susceptible to strong winds, this trunk will not only provide a lot of food and shelter for the local wildlife (bugs love dead wood, birds love bugs) but will also stand in memorial of the amazing and magical tree that graced us with its beauty and shade for these last several decades.
Please enjoy these photos of our beloved hackberry and it's slow progression back to the garden and back into the earth and join us as we watch how the light that was once shade changes our garden and enables more things to grow.

A crew of professionals taking down the remaining top of the tree.

Here we are with lots of new light and a great habitat for our insects.