Part 6

Near General Wayne Hotel, on Manheim street, is a specially fine ailanthus (ailanthus glandulosus) 2½ feet in diameter of trunk, with a height of 50 feet, and at the Keyser-Rodney House, Main and Duval streets, and on Garrett’s Hill, opposite Lovett Library are conspicuous superior specimens. Also on Manheim street, near Main street, is a honey-locust tree (gleditschia triacanthos) with a trunk 3 feet in diameter by 80 feet high, and larger and finer specimens are on Pulaski avenue, near Seymour street, and in front of Michael Schlatter’s stone house, Main street, near where the road turns off for “Wheel Pump,” Chestnut Hill.

At “Carlton” is a magnificent beech (fagus ferruginea) 3 feet in diameter of trunk, with a height of 60 feet and a spread of 40 feet, the finest specimen I know in our territory. We have many fine beeches, one being at “Awbury,” and another at Miss Nixon’s, on East Tulpehocken street. There are also exceedingly fine specimens at George L. Harrison’s, on West School House lane; at William Heft’s, on Main street; at “Fernhill,” and at places elsewhere, too many to name.

By George Redles my attention was directed to a large dogwood (cornus Florida) growing near Queen Lane basin, and there true to life, between the basin and Midvale avenue, may be seen a notable specimen 1½ feet in diameter by 20 feet high, with a spread of 20 feet, and here are two sassafras trees (sassafras officinalis) 2 feet in diameter by 40 feet high, both notable plants, one, however, surpassing the other in form. These are remarkable plants, and stand on historic ground, once part of “Carlton.”

Here the army of Washington was encamped, and here during an encampment of the Civil War Joseph Meehan, botanist and horticulturist, active among us, first did “picket duty.” Here also is a tulip poplar, 4 feet in diameter and 100 feet high, not equal to Wakefield’s notable specimen, but yet a plant of great merit.

We have many superior tulip poplars, one being at “Woodside,” Edward T. Steel’s residence on West School House lane, 4 feet in diameter and 100 feet high; another on John Wagner’s grounds on the same lane being 5 feet in diameter and 60 feet high. There are also several fine tulip poplars at Thomas MacKellar’s, on Shoemaker’s lane, but the finest specimen here, like the Blair linden at Main street and Walnut lane, has been despoiled.

At “Torworth,” the residence of Justus C. Strawbridge, and also at “Blathewood,” Joseph S. Lovering’s place adjoining, we have very fine specimens of hemlock (tsuga canadensis), as indeed we have in many parts of Germantown, but our finest hemlock trees are in the Wissahickon, where almost the entire southern bank of its romantic stream is fringed by this refreshing tree, and wherein are groups or groves above Kitchen’s or Garsed’s lane, above Allen’s lane, at Devil’s Pool, beside Megargee’s dam, and near Rex avenue, plants ranging from 1½ to 2 feet in diameter and from 60 to 80 feet in height. Also near Rex avenue bridge is a specimen hemlock of graceful proportions, having a trunk 2½ feet in diameter and rising to a height of 100 feet.

Among our most interesting plants are the native “Jersey pines,” which appear sparingly about Germantown. With us are two varieties, that on School House lane, opposite Gypsy lane, and others in the same neighborhood extending to the mouth of the Wissahickon, are technically known as pinus inops.

At Walnut lane and Wissahickon avenue is a specimen of pinus rigida one foot in diameter and 30 feet high. At James A. Mason’s, near Upsal Station, is a group of pinus inops. At Thomas’ Mill road on the Wissahickon, and eastward on the same road in the open above Towanda street, are from one to two hundred pinus rigida, interesting survivors of a flora supplanted. On Stenton avenue, near Bethesda Home, we have an isolated group of pinus inops, and at County Line road and Limekiln pike, also on Mt. Airy avenue near Main street are solitary specimens of the same species.

The Wissahickon is covered by numerous valuable plants, but of these a majority is too densely crowded to develop to the best advantage. Several years ago Thomas Meehan in Meehans’ Monthly, asked for data of sassafras trees, the text-books and general information agreeing that the average height of mature specimens of this plant to be 30 feet. At “Solitude” and at the “Indian Mound,” on E. W. Clark’s grounds, School House lane, there are specimens rising to a greater than this height, and at Tulpehocken and Musgrave streets were twin specimens, one now surviving, exceeding this height, and finely formed. Near the “Suicide’s Grave,” north of Rabbit lane, George Redles informed me there is a specially fine specimen. In the Wissahickon, near Thorp’s lane, I measured a slender specimen 80 feet in height, but the finest plants of this species I know were those measured for me by Joseph Heacock, two plants growing near Media, each three feet in diameter and 80 feet high.

About home we have numerous and exceedingly fine specimens of juniper (juniperus virginiana). Almost wherever one goes these may be observed--along the borders of Wissahickon, at “Bummers’ Cave” on Stenton avenue, on Chew street north of Johnson street, a place known to Ellwood Johnson as “Vinegar Hill,” and at Tulpehocken street and Wingohocken creek. This latter tree has a trunk 3 feet in diameter and is 35 feet high. A short time ago it was a healthy, beautiful specimen, but now it is partly or wholly dead, a plant when in its prime approached in my knowledge only by two like it which grow on Sumneytown pike, near “Indian Creek Meeting.” At Roberts Le Boutillier’s on East Washington lane, and elsewhere near, there are many other specimens worthy of record, but space and time details and elaboration forbid.

The deep frost of last winter played havoc with many plants, partly or wholly destroying box, ivy and other evergreens not usually affected. The celebrated evergreen magnolia (magnolia grandiflora) at Lippincott’s, Broad and Sansom streets, Philadelphia, entirely dropped its leaves; in many ponds all the fish were killed, and losses in other directions one may not yet undertake to estimate. Untouched, however, we have many box-bordered garden walks, such as may be seen at “White Cottage,” at “Grumblethorpe,” at “Wyck,” at Spring Bank, at C. M. Bayard’s, on upper Main street; formal designs set in green like those at Robert S. Newhall’s, Main and Gorgas streets; but the most elaborate and most perfect of our box borders are those adorning the garden of George C. Thomas, at Blue Bell Hill, protected by beautiful hedges of osage orange, arbor vitae and neatly clipped hemlock.

I never pass “Spring-bank” without thinking of John Welsh, its late and honored owner. Here I often saw him walking “in the cool of the day” under the shade of the “glorious” trees which line the front of the estate, and, always excepting Wyck, there is not to me in Germantown a more delightful spot. Here we have already noted a few plants, and we shall stop only to look at a perfect tulip poplar, 3 feet in diameter at trunk, with branches rising to 80 feet, a tree vouched for by Martin Constable, the gardener, as “planted by John Welsh himself,” also here is a specimen oak now 20 feet high, the acorn producing which N. Dubois Miller told me was brought from Jerusalem and here grown. In this direction we shall now go no further, but will southward turn, and by way of Main street, which we left at Stenton, proceed to a conclusion. Naglee’s and “Joe Nafle’s” we shall pass, and the Loudoun pines we have already noted.

Since the days of John Hart progress has here forced its way, and many fine plants, including those on the adjoining grounds of James S. Huber, have retreated before its irresistless advance, and the great tree on the hill equipped with a swing, like “Green’s Meadow,” implanted in the memory of every “Smearsburg” girl and boy of the last generation, is gone forever. Toland’s and Wagner’s and Henry’s are holding out “like grim death,” but it is only a question of time when “Wayne Junction” shall overwhelm them.

It is a pity I have often thought that fruit trees are not more often planted for shade, and native sweet-scented flowering plants for bloom, in a measure to bring the best of orchards and woods to home, and thus more directly beauty and utility combine. Our wood plants without exception may be readily grown if removed at a suitable time and properly planted, and I have never had failure in growing laurel (kalmia latifolia), arbutus (epigaea repens), and other of our native plants considered difficult to transplant.

Those of us familiar with Main street and Chelten avenue 25 years ago may remember “Tinker” Frey’s famous swamp magnolia (magnolia glauca). This is no more, but we have now at George Redles’ on Wister street; at Dr. Herman Burgin’s on West Chelten avenue; near Christ’s Church rectory on West Tulpehocken street; fine specimens of this common in New Jersey swamps, but rare in cultivation, plant.

Virginian fringe tree, perfectly hardy, and a very beautiful plant in bloom, although we have several fine specimens, is not common enough in gardens, exceptions not subject to this criticism being conspicuous and notable plants on the grounds of Dillwyn Wistar, Wayne street near Coulter street; Samuel Emlen, Coulter street near Greene street; and Charles M. Bayard, Main street near Carpenter lane. Fringe tree appears spontaneously as far north as the southern counties of New Jersey, and several years ago it was found by Joseph Meehan in the woods near Millville, though before this it had been collected in the same district by Dr. J. B. Brinton. These, with Judas tree (cercis canadensis), elder-berry (sambucus canadensis) and our native dog-woods in variety, are but a few of many worthy native plants, but enough, I hope, to direct attention to the subject.

A creeping yew (taxus adpressa) appears in front of “Conyngham House” or “Hacker House,” Main street, opposite Bringhurst street, but is not equal to the famous plant once at Upsala, yet, however, there is a most beautiful specimen of this rare evergreen in the garden of Edward Hacker on Wister street. On grounds to the rear of Conyngham House are several valuable plants for data of which I am indebted to Miss Howell.

Here was one of “the first wild flower gardens” of later Germantown, containing plants from many parts of the United States, but a garden of which only a trace now remains. Here also is “the finest grove of over-cup oaks (quercus macrocarpa) about, so Thomas Meehan always said,” “and a specimen of strange weeping oak” (quercus pendula).

“Grumblethorpe,” one of our most familiar homes, is now before us, and its plants are second only to its other possessions. Its occupant and owner is Charles J. Wister, to whom credit earned fully given would seem but empty flattery. Here all his long life lived Charles J. Wister the father, a man whom his neighbor, John Jay Smith, pronounced “the greatest botanist living,” and here amidst the sanctity of its associations lives the son, a most worthy successor. Quoting from an article written several years ago by William E. Meehan, which is sufficiently full for our purpose, there is growing at “Grumblethorpe” “a number of interesting trees, among them three old pear trees, two late Catherine and one sugar pear. There are records to show that these trees are about 150 years old. The sugar pear, which still bears abundantly, is 50 or 60 feet high, and has a girth of six feet. An aged ivy has completely overgrown the trunk and has climbed almost to the topmost branches. A very fine specimen of the famous larch of the Alps, familiar to every student of Swiss Alpine scenery, is also growing on these grounds. This tree, knotted and gnarled with age, has a trunk 5½ feet in circumference, and the tree is probably the finest of its kind around the city.”

A Japanese Ginko tree, which was among the first importations, is also among the curiosities of the Wister place, and, it may be well to add, this is the first recorded ginko in America to fruit. “About 1830 Charles J. Wister planted one of the first ailanthus (ailanthus glandulosus) brought from China. This is one of the most rapid growers of any known tree, and has attained a height of over 70 feet, and has a girth of 12 feet 2 inches.”

Here also is a rare specimen of papaw (asimina triloba), a tree equaled only by one of the same kind at “Wyck,” one foot in diameter by 40 feet high. “A gray poplar (populus alba), introduced about the latter part of the last century from Italy, is also growing in Mr. Wister’s grounds. Its trunk measures 10 feet 4 inches, and its branches cover a great area of ground.”

When we remember that the old fruit trees of “Grumblethorpe” have lived through the busiest life of our town, and yet bear as they did at a time when Christopher Saur in a building close by printed pamphlets and books now highly prized, we may well halt for a moment of reverential meditation, not for the trees and their produce, but for the power which gave them life, which sustained them, and which has given them to us. Interesting trees the garden of “Grumblethorpe” suggest, are the Chancellor pear, which originated on the grounds of William Chancellor, School House lane, adjoining Germantown Academy, and the original Keiffer pear, produced by Peter Keiffer at his nursery on Livezey’s lane, west of Wissahickon creek.

While in the vicinity of Germantown Academy, let us notice there a beautiful specimen of blood-leaved maple (acer J. atropurpureum), and also one of equal worth on the grounds of Miss Jane E. Hart, diagonally opposite.

These plants are very fine though small,--but superior specimens may be noted at Dr. James Darrach’s, Greene street, near Harvey street,--and at Mrs. Thomas W. Evans’, Cliveden avenue and Main street, the latter our representative plant.

Thanks to Meehans’ nurseries, we have many fine specimens of this showy tree about Germantown, and among a number known to us one of the best is on the grounds of William Rotch Wister, Wisteria avenue. Also in the garden of Samuel Emlen, West Coulter street, among other rare plants is the most beautiful specimen of cut-leaved maple (acer J. dissectum a.) I have ever seen.

Passing the residence and one-time garden of the “annalist” John Fanning Watson, we now turn in Penn street to visit “Ivy Lodge,” the home of John Jay Smith, whose long, useful life was here lived, where much of his best work was done, and from whence he departed to the habitations of the “just made perfect.” “Ivy Lodge” is of interest in many ways, but we shall stop only to mention a sun-dial with a noted inscription associated with Stenton, and one of two original “constable boxes” which once did service for the “borough,” the other box being preserved at Manheim,--and present a few plants. Both dial and box are conspicuous objects in the garden, and surrounding them are some of the rarest shrubs and trees in our midst. Far more than I am here able to give, credit is due Miss Elizabeth P. Smith, a daughter of John J. Smith. At “Ivy Lodge” is a specially fine specimen of weeping beech (fagus H. var. pendula), a memorial red oak (quercus rubra) planted by Miss Smith’s mother, and an immense black oak (quercus nigra). Also here once grew a notable juniper (juniperus squarrata), and several specimens of araucaria.

Miss Smith told me her father many times here tried to raise araucarias (araucaria imbricata) in the open, but never succeeded in keeping them over three years, this much being “considered quite an achievement.” In England araucarias of great height are quite common, so I doubt not the length and severity of our winters is responsible for the plant’s non-existence in our gardens. At “Ivy Lodge” are several fine mahonias (mahonia aquifolium) of 35 years’ growth, and with the exception of a small specimen growing on the grounds of Edward Hacker, on Wister street, here is the only cedar of Lebanon (cedrus libani) to my knowledge growing strictly within the town limits. This is a fine plant about 25 feet in height, and is one of two memorial trees planted in 1852 by John Jay Smith and John Granville Penn, the latter the last of the “proprietor’s” line, in honor of William Penn and James Logan. The “William Penn” tree, planted by a descendant of James Logan, is the plant we may see. The James Logan tree planted by a descendant of William Penn, is no more, having gone the way of “all the earth.”

Until a few years ago there was on the grounds of Colonel Galloway C. Morris, on East Tulpehocken street, a very fine cedar of Lebanon, but this to make room for improvements was destroyed. A “cut” of this plant, however, survives, and with a description may be seen in Vol. I, page 39, of Meehans’ Monthly. Our best and most notable cedars of Lebanon stand in North Laurel Hill Cemetery, and these grown under the care of John Jay Smith are said not to be excelled in America.