Did you know that our Barton Arboretum and Nature Preserve is home to four of New Jersey’s Big Tree Champions? Two of the trees are State Champions (i.e., the largest recorded) and three have Signature Status for their uniqueness. During these beautiful fall days, why not take a walk around campus and search out these four special trees?
Acer palmatum ‘Green,’ also known as Green Japanese Maple, is located in Courtyard 7 garden. It sets the tone for the garden’s Japanese theme that includes a small pond, rocks and sculptures.
The American Holly, Ilex opaca, reaching a height of 53’ is located to the right as visitors and residents enter the main parking lot on Medford Leas Way. This champion is the only one of the four on campus that is native to our region.
Nearby, in the Pinetum, is another Big Tree with
State Champion status. Calocedrus decurrens, an Incense Cedar, stands very tall at 75’. Native to northern California, it can grow to over 100’. The largest known specimen, measuring 157’ 5”, grows in Klamath National Forest in California, where it is native..
There used to be a Cupressus arizonica, also known as Arizona Cypress, next to the Cedar. A native of the southwestern US and northern Mexico, it stood 47’ tall with a circumference of 67”. Unfortunately, in 2020 a fast moving storm with very high winds blew it over.
Walk down the hill from the Pinetum into and through Court 26, make a left into Court 21, then another left into Court 20. There stands the Seven Sons Tree, Heptacodium miconiodes. A native of China, it features panicles of fragrant flowers that attract hummingbirds and butterflies in late summer/early fall.
In 2019, the New Jersey Forest Service changed the name of its Champion Tree Program to The Big Tree Conservation Program. The name change reflects the decision to focus not only on the state’s largest trees but on the conservation of big and heritage trees. To quote from the NJ Forest Service website:
Big trees give us hope. These massive trees have stood the test of time and weathered countless storms and events. If these great survivors can stand strong after enduring so much, then so can we.
— Judy Austermiller