With their roots deep in the ground and their canopies reaching for the sky, trees are a symbol of the power and resilience of our earth – and our connection to it.
Do you have a favorite tree, treasured for its beauty or size perhaps? Or its perennial offer of habitat, shade, or one that sparks personal memories? Tell us your special tree story. We’d love to share it as we continue our mission to protect and nurture Brookline trees.
Tell us your tree story
Oak · Brookline Village
When my son was young, I would pitch (whiffle) ball after ball to him, in Emerson Garden, and a big oak tree on the corner of Davis and Waverly Ave was our shade and back stop. Soon, my son “graduated” to baseball teams and had much better pitchers to practice and play with. But I fondly remember those times, especially when I continue to enjoy Emerson Garden, and “our” oak tree, along with the many other trees in that jewel of a park.
Dwarf cherry · Chestnut St. acrss from the Old Burying Ground
My tree is a dwarf cherry planted in 2019 in memory of my dear husband who loved trees. I think of its spreading branches and blossems as the love with which he embraced his family and friends.
Magnolia · Lincoln School neighborhood
I can look out my front window and see this magnificent Magnolia as it buds and then blooms gloriously for two weeks. Its short life of pinkish white blooms makes me smile every time I see it!
Chinkapin oak · This tree is along the Muddy River pathway, at the end closest to the Landmark Center.
This is an enormous, spreading oak tree, called a Chinkapin Oak. It creates a very large shady area, it produces acorns for food for many animals, and is like a beautiful living sculpture. The branches spread out horizontally, giving the feeling of a big umbrella !
Lawrence
I am six. My favorite tree is the one that I usually climb with my friends. It has a lot of opportunities and pathways to climb. No one can see me and it's fun to play hide and seek in there. Most of my friends like it and it's a way to get together. It's shady and cozy.
Tupelo · Lincoln School neighborhood
Three years ago I heard about and applied for a free tree from the town’s front yard tree program. I selected a tupelo which was professionally planted by the town’s skilled arborists. I agreed to give the tree a deep soak every week (and more often during drought conditions) for its first three years. It’s been worth it. The tupelo is beautiful in the summer with its green shiny leaves and even more beautiful in the fall with its vibrant red leaves. Our street is now home to five new tupelos from the front yard tree program!
Pin oak · Greater Point
Thirty years ago, we needed to plant a tree at the sidewalk end of our yard to replace two large trees that we lost -- a diseased Elm tree and a Sycamore Maple that came crashing down in a fall storm, barely missing our house! We planted a Pin Oak in a happy ceremony with our two young children and some friends. The spindly tree did not look very healthy after the first year, but we were patient and kept coaxing it along. That Pin Oak now towers over our house, and makes buckets of acorns for the squirrels. I enjoy looking at that majestic tree, and remembering the day we planted it.
Beech · Larz Anderson Park
My brother and I used to love climbing the beech tree near my grandma's garden at Larz Anderson Park. After we watered the plants and ate the raspberries, we climbed the amazing beech tree!
Red maple · On my side lawn
When I moved out of my condo and bought a house in 1988, my father presented me with a tiny red maple tree grown from the tree in his front yard. My tree is now 35+ years old, in bloom, beautiful to see and full of Tree-Love. It sends 30+ baby saplings everywhere the wind takes them in spring. Many I plant in pots, giving them away to friends and neighbors, continuing to pass along offspring from the original tree where hopefully, it still resides in Westchester NY. My dad’s gone 22 years as of 2026, but I still think of him every time I walk by my beautiful red maple tree.
Oak · Near the Hayes School on Eliot Street
There are many trees, past and present, that are my favorites. But I especially love a giant oak just beyond our front steps, one of several planted on both sides of the street more than a hundred years ago. Its knuckled feet push up from the sidewalk. Its mighty branches, thicker than the trunks of most other trees, overhang the roof. I once began a poem, "The oak outside my door/is no joke--one arm/downed by a winter storm/could cleave the attic room in half," and I have to hope this doesn't happen. We watch the tree in all seasons, and it watches us, through the eyes of its busy grackles and the high-speed squirrels that race up and down as if on a vertical highway. Sometimes, in spring, the oak's new leaves emerge ragged with caterpillar holes and sometimes they are perfect intact miniatures. The oak is always dropping things: necklaces of pollen-coated blossoms, acorns, and of course its autumn leaves--among the last to change color, from green to gold and then the tan of old leather. The oak, by standing still, has traveled with us for thirty-five years. I can't imagine day to day life without it.
Wild cherry · South Brookline
We call it The Stanley Tree. It’s a wild cherry that sprouted unbidden in the patch of lily of the valley where we sprinkled the ashes of our beloved Stanley. A sweet and incredibly personable tuxedo cat, the patch was his favorite place to sit and take in the sun and birds before his death at the grand old age of 19. Within three years, that slender self-seeding sapling grew to a sturdy 30-foot tree, and has since hosted nests for four families of robins. During these days of uncertainty and grief, it’s become a heartening touchstone of resilience and renewal.
Willow · Cypress St
My favorite tree is the big willow tree at "The Children's Center of Brookline." I like it because it is big and it has droopy leaves. Since "The Children's Center" was my pre-school, I've seen this tree for a long time. This willow tree is so big that it takes about 5 pre-schoolers to hug the whole trunk. (I've tried it before!) One of it's branches fell onto the slide of the playground structure during a storm. Thankfully, the slide and the tree got fixed. This tree is something I will always remember.
Beech · Beacon St. and St. Mary’s
Back in the 80’s and 90’s, I would drive to my husband’s office, in Kenmore Square, passing the most mouth-gaping grouping of trees I’ve ever seen. Beech Street, aptly named for its glorious trees, (the largest stand of beech trees in North America) is on its own island - Longwood Mall. Planted in 1850 and 1925, they have faced their challenges and their share of disease, yet they persevere - just like us. They have provided shade and shelter for over 175 years. I am particularly drawn to one on its east perimeter, which looks like it would provide a good climbing experience.
A project of Mothers Out Front, Brookline Chapter. Stories and photographs are shared with the permission of the people who sent them. About the project
