What is the oldest tree in Wilmington, Delaware?
Nobody has dated any of the eight trees we map around Wilmington, Delaware, so the oldest is not known. The biggest is the state champion tulip tree at Winterthur, 620 centimetres round and 50.9 metres tall, and the tallest is a second tulip tree at First State National Historical Park, 53 metres. One age can be bounded: the champion dawn redwood at Winterthur can be no older than 1948, when seed of the species first reached gardens outside China.
All eight come from the Delaware Forest Service's big tree register, which measures trunk, height and crown and records no planting dates. That is why every age on this page is a question rather than a number. Two trees stand in the city proper, the champion honeylocust in Brandywine Park and the eastern hemlock in Brandywine Cemetery at 701 Delaware Avenue, about 560 metres apart and both free. The rest are outside the city limits. Winterthur holds the champion tulip tree and the champion dawn redwood, about 400 metres apart on one paid ticket. Hagley, the other museum estate, holds the champion green ash, also paid. Valley Garden Park, Bellevue State Park and First State National Historical Park are free public ground. Two trees need a reader's eyes. The emerald ash borer has killed most of Delaware's ashes, so the Hagley green ash, alive in a dated observation within the last four years, deserves a fresh check. And the cemetery hemlock has no recent dated observation at all; its newest confirmation is the register's own ranking of November 2024.
One of Wilmington, Delaware's trees also appears in Autumn Worth the Trip.