We love the monster in our backyard
Couple’s beloved willow, a.k.a. King of the Beach, could be Canada’s largest
“With my willow in the backyard … I feel like I could almost be in the country, with the vivid blanket of green to look out on and birds singing. I feel so lucky.” JUDY RAULIUK
Tree of the Week showcases some of the biggest and most beautiful trees in the GTA, as compiled by Megan Ogilvie. Here, Les Jones tells us about his backyard weeping willow that presides over his home in the Beach, and which he believes may be the biggest tree of its kind in the city.
Our lone weeping willow tree is humongous.
It measures an astonishing 5.2 metres around; that’s approximately 1.8 metres in diameter, and I’ve estimated that if I drew a circle on the ground the size of the tree’s trunk, I could fit 700 cans of soda within the circle.
According to my research, the largest known weeping willow in the United States has a trunk circumference of 7.4 metres.
I don’t know the size of Canada’s largest willow, but it is possible ours could be the biggest!
Beyond its possible recordsetting size, our willow also provides a sense of history and awe.
Our house is more than 100 years old and we know that the willow was here before the neighbourhood was developed, back when it was cottage country.
We have calculated that our willow is almost 200 years old, given its size, and we have to wonder: What stories does it have to tell?
My partner, Judy Rauliuk, and I can picture children of generations past playing hide-andseek among the tree’s canopy of trailing, leafy branches. In one spot, a remnant of a rope hangs from a branch, the end of which has been absorbed by the tree. It once must have made for a terrific swing.
The tree is scarily high and is far too tall to fit in a photo, even with a wide-angle lens.
We estimate it to be about 20 metres tall, and we hope it stopped growing a long time ago.
Though we are proud of its size, we are also a little bit concerned about the possibility of our tree coming down, as well as the potential for falling limbs.
But an arborist tells us our tree is healthy and is among the largest willows in the city.
Every few years, we cut down a limb, often when it starts to intrude on our neighbours’ trees. While the wood doesn’t burn well, one limb does provide enough firewood for our home’s fireplace for a year or two.
Our willow depends on an underground spring that runs through the Beach and to Lake Ontario. We’ve been told the tree absorbs a lot of ground water — about 1,000 litres per day — which helps to minimize our backyard flooding.
We are fairly sure our tree is a weeping willow, but as a longtime cricket enthusiast, I sometimes hopefully wonder if it is instead a Salix alba var. caerulea, then try to estimate the number of cricket bats you could fashion out of its wood. (Salix alba var. caerulea is a species of willow native to England that is popular for cricket bats.)
I can’t talk about our tree without mentioning it is home to generations of raccoons which, while cute, have caused extensive damage to our house — and our bird feeders.
The raccoon families are always in search of a comfortable place to stay and have in the past torn up our roof and wrecked the floor of our deck, leading to thousands of dollars in repairs.
And while we don’t mind the animals’ regular nighttime parties on our roof, we don’t appreciate the daily “presents” they leave behind. Once, they even moved into our basement when we accidentally left the door open.
In the 1990s, we lived on Willow Ave. Ironically, no willows grew on that property, and Judy and I sometimes joke that, given our former address, sharing space with a willow tree was overdue.
We are proud to have this willow, the King of the Beach, in our back garden.
A few people have suggested that we cut down our tree as a precaution. But we love it; our home wouldn’t be the same without it.
As Judy, says: “With my willow in the backyard, even though I am surrounded by the sounds of the city — children playing, cars going by — I still feel like I could almost be in the country, with the vivid blanket of green to look out on and birds singing. I feel so lucky.” The Star wants to hear about the most significant trees in your neighbourhood. Email mogilvie@thestar.ca with a photo of your tree and the following information: Tree type, trunk circumference (measured at chest height), location and a short explanation of why this tree deserves recognition. We may share your submission in the Star and on thestar.com.