The Chinese scholar tree of Cal Anderson Park. (Image: Brendan McGarry)

Trees are magical organisms, woven into the fabric of almost every culture on earth and thankfully we have an abundance of them on Capitol Hill. Many species live hundreds of years, much longer than most people which means they have stories to tell, if only we take the time to look. However, when I set out to find the oldest tree on Capitol Hill, I quickly discovered I wouldn’t get a definitive answer.

Typically there aren’t sufficient records of tree plantings (outside of the Arboretum) to supply this information passively. To really find the answer I’d have to use an increment borer or wait for a tree to be cut down to count the rings. In my work as a Capitol Hill dendrochronology detective, I couldn’t just go cutting into trees.

Most people know our temperate rainforests are home to some of the largest trees in the world. Ideal rainfall and temperatures grow huge specimens. Capitol Hill was not far from where the original Seattle settlers set up shop and, therefore, it was quickly denuded of easy to harvest giants. What’s left of that era are trees that were spared because they weren’t worth logging. I tell this story, not to make you feel sad or to mourn their loss, but because it tells you something about my quest for the oldest and largest trees on Capitol. They aren’t native.

The typical spread in Interlaken Park. Credit: Brendan McGarry

You can cruise through Interlaken Park, hoping, as I did, to find a remarkable native giant tucked away into a forgotten corner. I found fairly large and copious big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum), a spattering of medium sized western red cedar (Thuja plicata) and western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), and a few stout black cottonwoods (Populus trichocarpa). A large Pacific yew (Taxus brevifolia), a shade loving conifer, on the edge of the park was my only true notable. I found no war-torn hangers-on.

Today’s notable trees were planted round about the time that large estates filled out the Hill and their owners saw need for shade and familiar comfort of broadleaved trees. The oldest trees of Volunteer Park, which has 175 species of planted trees, likely date between 1904-1912 when the Olmstead Brothers designed and built the park. So, we can guess, as Arthur Lee Jacobsen, Seattle plant expert has, that most of our larger trees are just over 100 years old.

Knowing I wasn’t going to find exact ages, I wanted to see what around 100 years could would produce in planted trees. What I found were impressive specimens, no matter their origins. The copper beech near the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park is the largest in Seattle (92 feet tall in 2000) and the common hawthorn nearby is less impressive only because they are never towering, but it’s the tallest in the world at 67 feet. The London plane of the Belmont Ave and Bellevue Pl triangle park shades the entire space in summer, spreading 100 feet from side to side.

All the trees I mentioned above are known to me because Seattle cares about trees. In the Heritage Tree Program started by Plant Amnesty and Seattle Department of Transportation we have recognition of important trees, based on a variety of criteria (you can even nominate trees). The Chinese scholar tree in the northwest corner of Cal Anderson Park (the largest in the Pacific Northwest), just inside the wall of the future Link station, is likely only standing because it’s a heritage tree. Besides noting special specimens, both SDOT and the Seattle Audubon Society have created generalized, citywide tree inventories and of course there’s the city’s free street tree program.

The London plane in the Belmont triangle park. Credit: Brendan McGarry

In the end, I didn’t track down the single oldest tree on the Hill and while CHS has talked about heritage trees before, it’s worth repeating. We shouldn’t forget about the natural wealth, native or not, we have in trees. Aside from the obvious environmental benefits of mitigating pollution and storm water I think trees are immensely good for our mental health. Most of the trees I mentioned above are currently nude of foliage, but go find them now and watch as they transition through bud, flower, and into leaf.

After spending an afternoon scooting between Capitol Hill’s notable trees, I was feeling a tad road weary. I finished my circuit where I began, at Volunteer Park, found an inviting giant sequoia to lean against, and immediately felt relaxed, glad to have it around.