Ten Tree Tour Tops

Jim Consolloy (left), recently retired head of grounds at Princeton University, handed us a list of the ten trees he was about to introduce us to on a short walk along Williams and Olden Streets. Jim is gaining an encyclopedic knowledge of local street trees in the process of conducting a detailed inventory for the borough.

The walk, organized by the Princeton borough shade tree commission, began behind Thomas Sweets Ice Cream, which provided 2 for 1 coupons to participants.

My daughter liked the coupon aspect in particular, and also brought home some souvenirs. The large leaf comes from one of two cucumber magnolias known to be growing in Princeton. (A NJ native, the other specimen can be admired at Marquand Park.) The tiger swallowtail had left its wings behind, as a kind of artistic legacy after donating its body to the food chain.

In order, we saw an American elm, a London Plane Tree, Cucumber Magnolia, Tulip Tree, Willow Oak, Kashmir Cedar, Shingle Oak, Ginkgo, thornless Honey Locust, and little leaf Greenspire Linden.