Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of going on a trip with a group of arboriculture students on a brief trip to see some of Virginia Beach's finest trees. Our first stop was at the Virginia Tech Agriculture Extension on Diamond Springs Rd in Virginia Beach. If you are a gardener, you have to check this place out! It is a wonderful place to get ideas for your own garden with several different plants on display at different levels of maturity, and it's FREE!
Back to the trees. A champion tree is measured by it's Diameter at Breast Height, or 4'6". Then the height is taken and the canopy is measured from side to side in two locations to get an average. The first treee we saw was a Bradford Pear (Pyrus Calleryana). It's right in the parking lot. This large Bradford is the city champion and is a large tree, due to the fact that it is well protected from high winds that can shorten their life. We also saw the champion tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), an incredible tree with a good example of lightning protection on it. There is a champion deodar cedar there, as well as a champion tree lilac(these do not do well here).
We then got in our cars and headed to Sajo Farms to see #89, the 6th largest Black Oak in Virginia. The preservation effort for this tree was remarkable, she has her own block! To see her she is in the back of the neighborhood to the right, can't miss her.
We then went to Fairfield to see the "Fairfield oak" or "Mini" as her owner calls her. Mini is a Live Oak (Quercus Virginiana) estimated at 600 years old. Mini was a "hanging" tree in old Princess Anne County. She is an incredible evergreen oak, and a state champion I believe.
We visited the Virginia Beach champion China Fir which is at the municipal center between and just behind the JDC and the Post Office. This magnificent evergreen has 4 co-dominant leaders. Last measured in 2001, next year it gets re-measured and, based on what we found, at 98' tall, it may beat the one in Norfolk at the Botanical Gardens.
Get out, walk around, and see some of the amazing trees for yourself. Take an evening walk and look up, they are here to enjoy!
"The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in
the eyes of others only a green thing that stands
in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and
deformity... and some scarce see nature at all.
But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature
is imagination itself"................William Blake
Mark Griffith is a Virginia Certified Horticulturist and a lead designer with Nautilus Garden Designs in Hampton Roads www.nautilusgardendesigns.com
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