A Rare Specimen Puts Down Roots––

Ben Franklin’s Tree Comes To Matthew Curtiss House

By Dottie Evans

Every time Lexington Gardens owner Tom Johnson drives down South Compo Road in Westport, he glances out his car window to admire a certain rare Franklinia alatamaha tree that has attained a graceful maturity.

And every fall when the Westport tree is covered with fragrant white blossoms, Mr Johnson slows down as he drives by –– all the better to catch a whiff of its glorious scent.

To Mr Johnson’s experienced nurseryman’s eye, Franklinia alatamaha, also known as the Franklin tree, is an excellent garden prospect for southwestern Connecticut, even though it originated along the Georgia coast. It is considered cold hardy to Zone 5, and as Mr Johnson noted recently, “That means it should do well in Newtown.”

Though Franklin trees are rare and hard to find, Mr Johnson was determined to obtain one and plant it in a special place in Newtown where townspeople could enjoy it –– not only for its handsome foliage but for its three-inch flowers, which are as exotic-looking as camellia blossoms

“I’ve always wanted to see a Franklin tree along Main Street,” Mr Johnson said on Wednesday, October 15, as he delivered a sapling to the front lawn of the Matthew Curtiss House. He and his nursery helper Tom Giroux had come prepared with shovels, fertilizer, topsoil, and mulch.

Since a Franklin tree likes full sun to light shade, Mr Johnson thought the tall maples of Main Street could provide the right environment, and the Curtiss House itself would offer shelter from the wind. When fully grown, the tree should not exceed 20 feet, he said, because of its “shrubby habit. Actually, it doesn’t know whether it’s a bush or a tree, so you have to prune to encourage a central leader.

“I’ve been taking care of this one for three or four months now, and I think this is the perfect spot for it,” he added, and started digging.

“Nice soil!” commented Mr Giroux, as he piled up a mound of good, black earth alongside the planting hole. Nearby, two members of the Newtown Historical Society Board of Trustees, John Renjilian and Peg Gross, watched the digging with approval while fending off a storm of blowing leaves kicked up during a sudden wind gust.

Society President Gordon Williams, also among the onlookers, thanked Mr Johnson and commented that the Curtiss House front lawn already looked better because the Franklin tree had taken up residence.

Two Pre-Revolutionary Survivors

In a way, the new Franklin tree and the old Matthew Curtiss House do seem to belong together.

They are contemporaries at least in spirit, since both have a history dating back to before the Revolutionary War. While the Curtiss House has stood on the east side of Newtown’s Main Street since it was built in 1750, the Franklin tree donated by Mr Johnson is most likely a direct descendent from an original specimen discovered in 1765 by Philadelphia nurseryman John Bartram.

“Franklin trees are hard to find now. In fact, they don’t exist in the wild at all,” Mr Johnson said.

He had located this specimen, along with one other, in a nursery in North Carolina, and he thought it would do well here, “although sometimes they are a little particular. They will thrive if they like where they are. Otherwise, they don’t make it.”

From the start, the story of John Bartram and his Franklin tree had intrigued Mr Johnson.

John Bartram (1699–1777) was known as the “father of American botany.” He established the first botanical garden in America on the Schuylkill River, where he raised both native and exotic species. In a period when travel was difficult and hazardous, he and his son, William Bartram, journeyed far afield to collect approximately 320 species of plants and seeds to be sent back to England.

The Bartrams discovered this lovely tree in the wild along the Altamaha River in Georgia, and on a later expedition to the site, John Bartram returned to collect seeds. Then he grew the tree in his botanical garden in Philadelphia and named it after his friend, Benjamin Franklin.

 Apparently, Franklin trees were seen again in the wild in 1790 and then, possibly 1803. After that for some reason, they disappeared. The species was never again sighted in its native environment, and it is believed that all Franklin trees available today are derived from Mr Bartram’s original botanical collection.

According to Hugh Johnson’s Encyclopedia of Trees: Franklinia alatamaha, Zone 5, grows to 35 feet and is of upright habit with leaves that are medium length, narrow, oblong, deciduous, simple, shiny above, dark green, then red in autumn, and minutely toothed. Its flowers are three inches, creamy-white, cupped, waxy, single, fragrant, and bloom in late summer. The fruit is a woody, round capsule. Tender in Britain, it requires hot summers. It will tolerate an acid or alkaline soil and may grow ten feet in 20 years.