Tree of the Month (formerly Tree of the Week) showcases some of the biggest and most beautiful trees in the GTA, as compiled by Megan Ogilvie. Here, Alex Murray, 90, and his wife, Laura, 89, tell us about the rare shagbark hickory tree that towers over their Toronto front yard. The couple has loved the tree for almost 60 years. Alex, who has been a member of the South Rosedale Residents’ Association since 1969, had the parkette across from his house named after him after roughly 30 years on the board.

We moved into this house in south Rosedale in 1963. Back then, our shagbark hickory tree was about 6 metres (20 feet) tall. Now, it’s more than three storeys high.

Our tree, which grows in our front yard, is special for a number of reasons.

Shagbark hickories are a native Carolinian species that are prevalent in the southern United States but uncommon in Toronto. This area is at the northernmost tip of their range. Some grow above Highway 401, but that’s about it. That we have a shagbark hickory growing in this part of Rosedale is really quite unique.

Another interesting thing about the tree is its shaggy bark; it curls down, down, down from the trunk in big, shaggy layers. It’s both beautiful and weird, like maybe something you’d see at Halloween.

This tree caught our eye the day we decided to move into this house. We knew even then it was unusual and unique. We don’t know if it was planted by the builder — our home was built in 1906 — or if the tree was already here, growing on the empty lot.

We’ve always wondered how many other shagbark hickories are nearby. We don’t think there are any more in this neighbourhood. But we’d love to know.

Not long after we moved here, a man showed up on our front door, dressed in a business suit. He worked on Bay St. but lived in the country, north of Highway 401. He asked if he could pick some of our hickory nuts so he could plant them on his property, near his own shagbark hickories. We said yes, and so he put crampons (spiked footware) on over his city shoes, and climbed up our tree and picked some nuts.

That was one of the summers when our tree produced fully developed hickory nuts. The squirrels just love them. Most years, though, the nuts are small and without much meat. The squirrels leave those alone.

In the last few years, as seasons have grown warmer with climate change, we’ve noticed the tree has more often produced fully grown nuts.

For all the years we’ve known it, the tree has been so well-behaved. We’ve never had any worries about it getting sick or falling down. It’s a very undemanding tree in that sense.

In the summer, when it gets hot, our tree provides wonderful shade right up to the third floor. The leaves are large, easily the size of your hand, and they stay on the branches until it gets quite cold. In the fall, it’s almost the last tree on our block to lose its leaves.

One of the things we love best about our tree is that, in the autumn, during the late afternoon, its orangey-yellow leaves create an incredible golden glow as the sunlight shines through the branches of the trees and into our third-floor room. It’s quite delightful, especially that time of year.

We love our tree. We wish it could talk. It could tell you so much more about its life.

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