6 November 2006 6 November 2006
Bruce Jackson
Olmsted's Delaware Park oak: three photographs
Trees all over Buffalo and its suburbs were killed or severely damaged during the unseasonal October 12-13 storm that dumped a foot of wet snow on broadleaf trees before they had their normal seasonal defoliation. Delaware Park, one of the three Buffalo parks designed by Federick Law Olmsted, was particularly hard-hit. Crews have been sawing off dangerously cracked limbs and hauling out brush for ten days now. The great oak that stands alone in the park's meadow seemed to have been hit with an almost-surgical strike. It is less broad and less high than it was, and the shorn branches and limbs circle the great tree almost as if they had been arranged as a necklace. But the tree itself seems healthy and it should come back next spring with its usual vigor. Here are three photographs of how it looks now.
Copyright 2006 by Buffalo Report, Inc.