One of Baltimore’s most photographed trees was struck by lightning over Memorial Day weekend.
During the Memorial Day evening thunderstorms, fast winds downed trees in the area while lightning reportedly struck a home in Towson. The 60-year-old dawn redwood at Baltimore’s Cylburn Arboretum was among the trees affected.
“The tree literally exploded, throwing wood and branches all over the lawn,” Cylburn Arboretum Friends, the nonprofit that partners with the city of Baltimore to maintain public gardens, said Tuesday.
The Cylburn Arboretum is home to many species of trees, and the Dawn Redwood sits across the street from one of the most visited spots in Cylburn Mansion, making it one of the most photographed trees in the city.
The tree is the anchor of three of the gardens maintained by the Friends of the Cylburn Arboretum. The nonprofit organization has partnered with the City of Baltimore since 1954 to maintain the arboretum grounds and gardens and hosts field trips three days a week, among other events.
“The dawn redwood was probably the most photographed tree,” Brooke Fritz, executive director of Cylburn Arboretum Friends said in an email. “Weddings, engagement proposals, baby photos, children playing under its magnificent branches: our visitors loved documenting their lives under our beautiful tree. The loss of this tree will be felt by many people, from our regular visitors, to those who had a special moment in its shade years ago, to our city’s schoolchildren coming on trips.
Fossil records show this type of tree would have existed 50 million years ago, but it wasn’t discovered in the wild until 1941, Fritz said. A forester collected seeds and now many arboretums have these trees.
Redwoods are native to China but were grown as status symbols in the United States, said Rob Prenger, regional forester for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
The dawn redwood was specifically planted as part of its agricultural design. People could still see them in cemeteries, yards and parks. However, it is unlikely to find another redwood the same size as the dawn redwood.
“They are planted as ornamentals,” Prenger said. “There are many others in Baltimore, but in our lifetime you won’t see another one like the one in Cylburn. They are not as rare as you might think, but it is a shame to lose a large, healthy tree like the dawn redwood.
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