THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 27, 1996 TAG: 9604270336
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
For seven years the flowering dogwood in Bob Monheim's yard on Glendale Avenue reigned as the nation's largest.
Monheim had a registration certificate from the American Forestry Association as proof.
Few would have doubted it, anyway, especially if they were lucky enough to see the 33-foot-tall tree at its full-bloom peak. In addition to the tree's towering height, Monheim's dogwood has a circumference of 110 inches, a crown spread of 42 feet and for a short time each spring thousands of white flowers, usually during the first two weeks of April.
But this month Monheim's tree was knocked from its position as the National Champion Dogwood by a tree from North Carolina.
``I'm not surprised,'' Monheim said Friday after learning that his tree was no longer the nation's largest. ``Having a certificate was never really saying that is was the largest, anyway.''
That designation now belongs to a tree discovered by A.J. Bullard, a retired dentist from Mount Olive, N.C. Bullard found the dogwood in an old cemetery.
With a trunk diameter of almost three feet, the tree ``just took my breath away,'' Bullard said. ``I stopped and observed it closer and realized it was a monster.''
Bullard had the dogwood certified by the National Register of Big Trees in Washington last August, but waited to announce his discovery until this month, when the tree reached its full glory.
The circumference of the tree is 114 inches, its height is 31 feet and the crown spread 48 feet. Using a formula that takes the sum of the circumference, the height and one-fourth of the crown spread, the North Carolina tree totals 157 points, 3 1/2 more than the Norfolk tree.
Both Virginia and North Carolina claim the dogwood's bloom as their state flower.
Bullard said it is difficult to tell how old the tree is. He talked to the caretaker of the cemetery, who is in his 60s.
``He said no living person would know how old this tree is,'' Bullard said. ``The cemetery goes back to 1864.
``The oldest grave is very near this dogwood, which leads us to assume this tree was probably there when the cemetery was established,'' Bullard said.
Monheim also is uncertain about the age of his dogwood. Decades ago Monheim's property used to be part of a farm. The farmhouse, in fact, still sits across the street from Monheim's house. It also has a dogwood tree - much smaller than Monheim's - in its front yard.
Monheim purchased his house at the corner of Glendale and Evergreen Avenue 17 years ago, when the tree was younger, healthier and even more impressive than it is now.
``That tree is probably why I bought the house,'' Monheim said.
Recently, Monheim said, the tree has started looking ``old and stressed.''
``It's just not as majestic as it was a few years ago,'' he said.
Part of the reason is that Virginia Power cut away the top of the tree for power line access. That may have hurt Monheim's chances of ever regaining the top spot in the Flowering Dogwood category.
``I could have more points, theoretically, if it wasn't for Vepco,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by ASSOCIATED PRESS, left; BILL TIERNAN, The
Virginian-Pilot
Based on circumference, height and crown spread, the Carolina tree,
left, stole the title from the Norfolk tree, above.
KEYWORDS: CHAMPION TREE DOGWOOD STATE TREE by CNB