22 August 08: Franklinia Alatamaha



While our summer season is coasting downhill to its final days, egg cup season is only beginning to peak. The sunny side up flower we see here belongs to the "Franklin tree" -- the common name for a tree even more commonly known by its genus, Franklinia Alatamaha, or for our purposes, simply Franklinia.

John Bartram and his son William discovered the "very curious shrub," as John described it in a journal entry, in 1765 along the banks of the Altamaha River in Georgia very near to where I-95 now crosses the River. They were so taken by the unique plant that the younger Bartram returned to the Altamaha several times during his southern explorations that are the subject of his landmark 1791 book Bartram's Travels.

William brought several seeds home to his father's Schuylkill River spread when he returned from the south in 1777, and within four years they had flowering trees. The first American scientist to document the tree, he named the species Franklinia Alatamaha -- the latter a spelling variation of the Yamassee Indian name of the Georgia river; the former a tribute to a friend of the elder Bartram called Benjamin Franklin, about whom little is known.

It's fortunate that the Bartrams were so fascinated by the tree, too. Though the plant, a member of the Tea family, is native to a small region of rural Georgia -- about 60 miles south of Savannah -- it was on the verge of extinction when the Bartrams began cultivating it in the late 18th century. The last known spotting of a Franklinia in the wild was in 1803; exactly why it became extinct in the wild is not known, but theories include flood, over-collection (after Bartram's publication) and disease. It's believed that all Franklinias in existence today are descendants of the seeds cultivated at Bartram's Garden.

Interestingly, the acidic soil of the Philadelphia region has proven better for the tree's roots than the clay-heavy soil of the south, and generally speaking the Franklinia has performed well here when cared for.

The growth of the Franklinia can be unpredictable. It can grow up to 30' tall, symmetrically like most trees, but its multi-trunking growth can also lead to a more spread out, asymmetrical shrub-like appearance. It can thrive upwardly when well manicured; it can also thrive outwardly when the trunk is bowed or bent.

It is a deciduous tree. The leaves that bud in the spring grow to about 6 inches in a spring-green color and turn orange-red in the fall. Its blooms? They are the subject of this essay.

In our region, Franklinias bloom beginning in late July and tend to peak in mid-August. Blooming from a bud the size of a super-ball, the flowers have white petals and golden yellow stamens. They are fragrant, but not overpoweringly so. Todd Greenberg, head gardener at Bartram's Garden, says that a group of chemists last week came to the garden for samples, possibly for an end result as a fragrance. (Eau de Ben!)

With some assistance from Bartram's curator Joel Fry, Todd and I hit the Franklinia trail last weekend in hopes of finding the best blooms the region has to offer. While it would be close to impossible to visit every single tree in the region -- a census conducted by the Garden in 2000 indicate there are 559 specimens in PA alone -- we did our best to hit all the most visible, notable spots.

  • BARTRAM'S GARDEN, Southwest Philly: It only made sense to start at the source. Two trees -- one in front of the house (next to the public bathrooms) and one prominently featured adjacent to the upper garden next to the Bartram house -- share space with the oldest gingko tree in America and lots of holly trees. Both of these Franklinias are (obviously) healthy, thriving trees.

    Bartram's Garden.

  • BARNES FOUNDATION, Lower Merion: In an arboretum that contains over 3,000 species and exotic trees from Japan, China and the California coast, the tree that welcomes visitors into the Barnes art gallery is the Franklinia. Two trees occupy the lawn of the Barnes' main entrance, magnificently juxtaposed with the stone house.

    Barnes Foundation arboretum & garden.

  • HORTICULTURE CENTER, Fairmount Park: A perfect example of the tree's contrasts in symmetry and predictability, the Hort Center has two vastly different Franklinias next to one another in a meadow between the reflecting pool and the Japanese house. The one pictured at right is a tree's tree, a young, symmetrical, upward tree. The other is older, having grown almost straight outward, forming an arch, and blooms just as well as the younger one.

    Fairmount Park Horticulture Center.

  • 42ND & SPRUCE, private home in West Philly: This single tree on the southeast corner of 42nd & Spruce, across the street from the Furness block, is probably the finest example of a Franklinia in Philadelphia. It's lush, healthy, wide (from several sub-trunks comprised as one large trunk) and about 25' tall.

  • PENN BIOPOND, aka James Kaskey Memorial Garden, Penn Campus, West Philly: In this particular bloom season, the weakest Franklinia I found was at Penn's Biopond, a sad ode to that University's founder. The puny tree had no blooms at all and is hidden on a back path of the garden (as opposed to a prominent location on the pond, next to Louis Kahn's landmark Richards Medical Lab). An interesting aside: the oldest documented Franklinia still living dates back to a 1905 planting -- at Harvard University! Due to its higher latitude, it peaks at the Arnold Arboretum there in Cambridge in September.

    Penn Biopond.

  • MORRIS ARBORETUM, Chestnut Hill: Speaking of affiliated Penn projects, the amazing Morris Arboretum is home to two Franklinias. I could only find one, in the Azalea Meadow, a small but lovely specimen. The other is allegedly in the area near to the Rose Garden and Herb Garden; unfortunately none of the gardeners I spoke to the morning of my visit were familiar with the plant and I ran out of time before finding it.

    Morris Arboretum.

  • PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL, 8th & Pine, Center City: Penn certainly redeemed itself back in Center City. The gardens at Pennsylvania Hospital (accessible only by the entrance on 8th Street), the May subject in the 2008 Philly Skyline calendar, is home to what I think is the second best specimen in town after 42nd & Spruce. Its context may even give it an edge -- the hospital's Franklinia is the gateway between the landscaped Pine Street of the garden (with the William Penn statue) and the Physic herb garden closer to 9th.



    Pennsylvania Hospital Gardens.

  • AWBURY ARBORETUM, Germantown: Talk about Philly's hidden jewels. Awbury Arboretum occupies an incredible 55 acres in the otherwise well-developed eastern section of Germantown. Located on what is now the R7 Chestnut Hill regional rail line and centered around the Francis Cope House, the arboretum dances around private estates between Haines & Johnson Streets, Chew Avenue and Ardleigh Street. Washington Lane is the only thoroughfare to pass directly through the arboretum; it's here that you'll find a mini-grove of Franklinias -- if you know where to look. Awbury's grouping of three Franklinias is not along any trails or sidewalks -- one must walk through brush to get to them. (Or if you're me, a giant spider web.) If you set out to find these trees, head north on Washington Lane above Chew (right past the Septa station) and look on your left for the sign to Weaver's Way Farm. As soon as you enter the gate, walk into the woods about 20 feet on your right. There is the hidden-most of the Franklinias at the hidden-most of the region's arboretums.

    Awbury Arboretum.

  • CLIVEDEN, Germantown: Speaking of Chew, the family whose name marks the Avenue lived for seven generations at Cliveden, the home built by the Penn family's attorney, Benjamin Chew, in 1760. The 1777 Battle of Germantown centered around the house, as the Philadelphia-bound British army holed up inside when it received word that Washington's American army was near. The grounds where 53 Americans died unsuccessfully trying to capture the house is now home to two large Franklinias. Though they share the same soil, they grow in two completely separate directions, arching outward from one another.

    Cliveden.

  • INDEPENDENCE HALL, 5th & Chestnut: Finally, our youngest Franklinia, found at our oldest claim to freedom. The National Park Service planted this specimen named for the influential fellow who used to walk these grounds two years ago. While small in stature, its blooms are already vibrant. It's found on the south grounds of Congress Hall, closest to 6th Street.

    Independence National Historical Park.

    * * *

    The Franklinia in Philadelphia, 2008. There are supposedly two trees at the Zoo, but a representative for its horticulturist was unfamiliar with the tree. I didn't make it to the farther out arboretums like Tyler and Scott, nor to gardens like Chanticleer, Winterthur and Longwood.

    Elsewhere, there has been an effort to cultivate it, even reintroduce it into the Georgia wild near its native Altamaha River. The Franklinia at the Atlanta History Center was awarded 'state champion' status by the Georgia Forestry Commission for being the largest in its home state. "At least for us," Center Curator John Manion says of the southern location, "it blooms sporadically across the summer and into September." Manion, who once worked at Scott Arboretum in Swarthmore, personally nominated the Center's Franklinia, found in their Quarry Garden.

    The largest known specimen is the oldest one mentioned earlier, found in Massachusetts at Harvard's Arnold Arboretum.

    These things may be true, but the Franklinia will always hold its Philadelphia affiliation closest, thanks not just to its iconic name, but to the Bartrams, who saved the plant from extinction.

    To start the Franklinia tour, let's go to Bartram's Garden
    HERE.

    * * *

    NOTES & SOURCES:
    Bartram's Garden, "The Franklinia Story"
    US Dept of Agriculture, Franklinia classification report
    Tree Trail, "Lost Franklinia"
    Franklinia at Wikipedia




    –B Love






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