“Every Tree Tells a Story”, but some stand as living reminders of our country’s past. Twelve extraordinary trees and tree groupings at twelve sites in the United States have been collected into a “landslide” exhibit by the Cultural Landscape Foundation.

These horticultural specimens, many under threat, range from a two-century old tulip poplar in Washington, D.C. (pictured), to the 4,000 cherry trees in New Jersey’s Essex County Branch Brook Park, to the Rio Piedras ficuses that span seven highway lanes in San Juan.

They are:

Aoyama Tree, Los Angeles, California

Arborland Tree Farm, Milliken, Colorado

Tulip Poplar, Tudor Place, Washington, D.C.

Cummer Oak, Cummer Museum of Art, Jacksonville, Florida

Sycamore Row, Ames, Iowa

Olmsted Parks and Parkways, Louisville, Kentucky

Commonwealth Avenue Mall, Boston, Massachusetts

Boxed Pines, Weymouth Heights, Southern Pines, North Carolina

Japanese Flowering Cherry Trees, Essex County Branch Brook Park, Newark, New Jersey

Elms Of East Hampton, East Hampton, New York

Black Oak Tree, Katewood, Bratenahl, Ohio

Río Piedras Ficuses, San Juan, Puerto Rico

“Every Tree Tells a Story” is part of an outdoor signboard exhibit at the United States National Arboretum that highlights the history, threat, and ways to become involved with 12 trees and tree collections across the country. It’s on display through November 16, 2012.

(Image courtesy of the Cultural Landscape Foundation)