The Aloha Street Tulip Tree

Seattle realigned a street for this tree. At the corner of 16th Avenue East and East Aloha Street on Capitol Hill, the roadway, the curb and the sidewalk were all shifted to accommodate its size, as the Seattle tree expert Arthur Lee Jacobson recorded in his 2001 survey of the hill's special trees. He listed it among the trees that are conspicuous and loved, rather than the big or the old. The city's figures suggest he was being modest. Its tree records give the trunk as 46 inches across, roughly 12 feet round, a height of 92 feet, about 28 metres, and a crown 69 feet wide. The tree is a city Heritage Tree, a listing the owner of the lot agreed to, and the city last recorded it in service in July 2024. That lot is private, so this is a tree to see from the public sidewalk at the corner, and a crown 69 feet across leaves plenty to look at from there. Stay on the pavement. A tulip tree is neither a tulip nor a poplar, despite the nickname tulip poplar. It is a magnolia relative, and its leaves give it away: four lobes, with the tip cut off square as if somebody took scissors to it. Nobody has published when it was planted or how old it is. If you know the history of this corner, tell us.