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FEATURES |
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Amid the bustle of the capital city is an oasis of greenery that is the AU campus. More than 1,700 plants and trees are tended carefully within its borders, from rare survivors of prehistory to vivid international showpieces. The campus was designated a public garden and arboretum in 2004 and is growing into a lush and tranquil education in natural beauty. The AU campus has a sense of place that tells of Washington, but not the Washington of marble halls. This is the Washington of cherry trees, exploding around campus like pink fireworks. It’s a Washington scented with magnolia in the spring and crackling with Halloween-colored leaves in the autumn. Migratory birds stop for a dip in AU’s ponds, and creatures of the forest make their homes in its trees, some of which are ancient and rare. Here are nine of the special trees and special places that are making AU an education in environmental stewardship, and one of the treasures of Washington, D.C. Prehistoric vista There’s nothing on earth like a ginkgo tree. It’s a living fossil whose oddly fan-shaped leaves may well have been on the menu for dinosaurs—at least, the dinosaurs who preferred eating plants to eating each other. The Jurassic landscape was green with gingkos, but after the passing of the dinosaurs, the trees disappeared, hanging on only in a corner of China, where they were cultivated by monks. The prehistoric scenery is being recreated quietly in three AU groves.
More dinosaur treats After a brachiosaurus nibbled on a ginkgo, its immense belly was surely not full.
Political activism It was 1943. Korea was occupied by Japan, and Korea’s president in exile stood on the quad with AU’s president to make a statement in the form of trees. They planted three flowering cherry trees, of a type that grows in Korea and Japan, and dubbed them “Korean cherry trees” at a politically charged ceremony that included Korean folk songs and the reading of the Korean Declaration of Independence. The trees planted by Syngman Rhee, who would become the first president of liberated Korea, and AU president Paul Douglass, who would become his advisor, went on to flower each spring. AU wants to plant matching cherry trees around the new School of International Service (SIS) building, and grafts may be taken from the older cherry trees to grow the new ones.
Middle Eastern drama Few trees can match the drama of color on a single parrotia tree, whose leaves warm the crisp days of autumn with a fiery mix of scarlet, yellow, and orange. There is drama to be found all through the year, too; spring glows with ruby-red blooms, and winter highlights the mottled mosaic of the parrotia’s bark. Also known as a Persian ironwood, the colorful tree hails from Iran and the Caucasus Mountains of Georgia and Turkey.
Ben Franklin’s namesake In 1765, some friends of Benjamin Franklin were exploring the Georgia wilderness when they found a grove of mystery trees with fragrant blossoms the color of cream. As the American Revolution began, they made another trip to Georgia and pocketed a few seeds to cultivate at their Philadelphia home. The seedlings emerged around 1776, when Franklin was signing the Declaration of Independence. The botanists named the tree in their friend’s honor. The Franklinia was last seen in the wild in 1803. AU’s Franklinia is one of barely 2,000 in the world, all of them descendants of the seeds cultivated in Philadelphia.
A constant presence Its wide girth testifies to its long life, but how old is the scarlet oak on the main quad? Landscape architects estimate it at 125 years old. It has shaded generations of students, who play frisbee around it and lounge under its green canopy, which turns a flaming red in the fall. The scarlet oak is a native of the eastern woodlands and is the official tree of Washington, D.C.
Tree sitting Once there was an oak on the main quad, a century or more in age. In time it had to be taken down, but it has never left the campus. An eagle was carved from its wood, six feet tall. Less conspicuous are two rustic benches that nestle in an arc of forested coolness in the Woods-Brown Amphitheater, along the banks of a trickling creek beloved by birds. The creek, too, is a new creation, built to restore an unsightly gully and protect the land from erosion.
From the Civil War . . . to Starships? An even older tree than the quad’s scarlet oak is a white oak not far from Ward Circle, which was known as Fort Gaines when this gnarled giant was younger. These trees can live as long as 600 years, so it could grace the campus far into the future, shading students studying yet-to-be invented subjects. Intro to Starships, anyone?
Grove of tranquility Only steps from the vitality of the main quad, there’s a dappled grove with a lily-filled pond where a waterfall plays its soothing music. Even deer and other wildlife find their way to this serene spot, which is veiled from the bustle of campus by masses of flowers and greenery. |
