Our tree of the month for April was inspired by Rachel Cook, a botanist who is Trees Lexington’s Director of Programs. She writes: Rachel's tulip poplar in the valley of her family's farm. “While growing up on the family farm in Washington County, I often admired the beauty of a massive tree in the valley. It was clearly a remnant tree that had survived logging and farming, much older and gnarly than the trees around it. The land was used for tobacco farming before our family bought it in...

By Andy Mead The Marybeth McAlister Memorial Bur Oak. Our Tree of the Month for March is the bur oak, which is Lexington’s official tree. This article will begin with one particular bur oak, which is informally known as The Marybeth McAlister Memorial Bur Oak. The tree is in my back yard. Marybeth McAlister was my wife. Several months after she died in early 2014, my friend Rob Pokorney planted a tiny tree that he had sprouted from an acorn. Rob said the acorn had good genes; it was from a...

By Andy Mead Our tree of the month feature for February takes us 30 miles out of Lexington to visit an Osage Orange ( Maclura pomifera ) at Old Fort Harrod in Harrodsburg in Mercer County. The species is native to Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas, but apparently was planted at the fort around the time the frontier outpost was built in 1774. The Fort Harrod osage orange in all its glory. The sign informing Fort Harrod visitors of the tree's record setting measurements and ineligibility for...