'Living Tree House' Slated For Ax In Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

PROSPECT-LEFFERTS GARDENS, BROOKLYN — Residents are fighting to save a beloved treehouse in the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens that’s fated to get the chop.

The “living tree house,” a London plane tree with a hollowed-out base, is slated to be removed this summer after the horticulturalists ruled it to be unsafe, but locals object to Gardens’ assertion that it poses a threat.

“The treehouse can be kept perfectly safe through the pruning technique of pollarding,” Nick Novelli wrote in his online petition to save the tree. “Kids of all ages have played inside it for years, and could play for decades to come.”

The London plane tree, among the first to be planted when the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens opened in 1910, has since become a favorite among neighborhood children who enjoy ducking under the canopy and hiding in the hollow trunk, locals said.

But problems sprouted last fall when the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s horticulture team determined the trunk could not support the 70-foot-wide canopy, which they were quick to chop down, a BBG spokeswoman told Patch.

And on Friday, BBG president Scott Medbury notified garden members that what remained of the tree would have to be taken down because the tree kept growing more “suckers.”

"These suckers may persist, many would grow into weakly attached branches that would continue to pose safety problems for visitors," Medbury wrote. “The plane tree had become a hazard."

But locals say the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens have not taken into account what upkeep and maintenance might do to keep the tree from becoming dangerous, and are expressing these views on a Facebook page written from the point of view of the tree.

“If I were never cared for again there might be some truth to it,” the tree wrote in response to Medbury’s analysis. “But a 12-year-old with a ladder and an hour or two could remove all my suckers in the winter, allowing for a flush of new suckers in the spring.”

“This is an ancient pruning technique called pollarding and it is credited with the longevity of the oldest cultivated trees in Europe.”

The tree also spoke out against Medbury, whom the tree asserted was acting without considering the wants of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden community and employees.

“I find it incredible that the aesthetic sensibilities of one man can trump the counsel of his staff and the will of the community,” the tree added. “But I've been touched and inspired by your heroic efforts to save me.”

The tree’s assertions tallied with residents who have since launched an online petition and social media campaign to save the tree.

“Medbury ... has issued a summary death sentence for one of the most beloved trees in the garden,” Janine Nichols, a member of the grassroots organization Flower Lovers Advocating for Communities, told Patch in an email.

“Out with the old and in with the new is a lazy way of thinking,” wrote Aliya Tyus-Barnwell when she signed the online petition. “The tree has historic and environmental significance that a new young tree simply does not.”

“The tree is important in so many ways,” added LaShaun Ellis, one of 20 people who had signed the petition as of Tuesday afternoon. “Let it live.”

A BBG spokesperson did not respond to Patch’s request for information about when exactly the tree was slated to be cut down, but it had its own predictions.

“The canopy chatter is that repaired chainsaws arrived back at Brooklyn Botanic Garden today and that I'll be chopped down tomorrow,” the tree wrote on Monday. “I'm in a bit of shock.”

But the tree was back online Tuesday morning with a cheerful status update.

“Not likely to get chopped today," wrote the tree. "“Another reprieve!"

Photos courtesy of Janine Nichols