Preserving the Past

I recently learned about an amazing cherry tree located in West Chester, PA just minutes from my home. When people think of flowering cherry trees, they often think of the tidal basin in Washington DC and the corresponding cherry blossom festival each spring. Even I was unaware that some of the saplings gifted to the US in 1912 as a symbol of friendship made it to my local area. But that is the case.

The remarkable blooms of this cherry attract visitors far and wide.

The arching branches and massive trunk impress all who visit.

The blossoms amaze when viewed up close.

Thomas Butler, a member of the House of Representatives at the time, received two saplings and planted them at his house on Miner Street. The most spectacular specimen of the two greets those walking down the sidewalk or driving by. The current owners of the Butler House care for the property and the historic trees planted there. Despite their best efforts, the tree is in decline.

You can’t walk past this scene without pausing for a while.

The tree measures more than four feet across.

With a lot of help from Andy Schenck, nursery owner and local plantsman extraordinaire, I set out to propagate the tree for future generations. Andy and I took cuttings from the tree after it flowered, placing them in a storage bag with damp paper towels so they wouldn’t dry out. From there we cut off some of the foliage to reserve the plant’s strength and dipped the stems in two different kinds of rooting hormone.

We took cuttings from the tree after blooming.

We placed the cuttings in a bag with moist paper towels for transport.

Rooting powder sticks to the stems and encourages root development.

A liquid rooting hormone helped to ensure root growth.

After dipping the stems in the rooting hormone, we placed them in the misting chamber.

Cuttings were placed in a rooting chamber that receives a misting every twenty seconds or so. Now we wait. If all goes well, in several weeks, the cuttings will begin to produce roots and we’ll have new saplings to share. If we are successful, our first recipients will be the owners of the Butler House who have been such great stewards of this amazing tree and its historic roots.