Grandkids now play in blue spruce planted to mark birth of daughter

Susan Hope and Ted Doyle’s spruce has grown much bigger than they expected. Jessica and her new tree in 1987.

Tree of the Week showcases some of the biggest and most beautiful trees in the GTA, compiled by Megan Ogilvie. Here, Susan Hope and Ted Doyle tell us about the Colorado blue spruce tree they planted on the front lawn of their Scarborough home to mark the birth of their daughter.

In1980, when we purchased our home, a beautiful silver birch tree was growing on the front lawn. Sadly, over the next few years, the tree died. To celebrate the birth of our daughter, Jessica, in1986, we decided to plant a new tree that would have special meaning.

Since we live in Scarborough and have a nice-sized property, we decided on a Colorado blue spruce, which we purchased from Van Dongen’s Nurseries in Hornby (near Milton) for $69.

We named our new little tree “The Jessica Tree,” and, over the years, we’ve taken many photos with it. A lot are with family and friends, we have many with our daughter standing beside it for her milestones and, a few years ago, she stood beside it for her wedding photos, as she was married in our backyard.

As the tree grew, the neighbour’s boys discovered a hiding spot. Now, our grandchildren play in The Jessica Tree and know it’s their mother’s tree.

Our wonderful tree is now huge — it measures 1.8 metres (6 feet) in circumference and has allowed us to go without front window coverings for many years.

Although this tree is very big and much bigger than we had expected, we still love it. For the first time last spring, we had the tree “heightened” by arborists to keep the branches off the driveway.

We have since planted two smaller trees in the backyard for our grandchildren and have learned to read the small print on a label and avoid trees that need “plenty of room,” because now you can’t see our house for The Jessica Tree.