Franklin Tree Planting at Carpenters’ Hall

On April 25 at 10 a.m., Ben Franklin will join the Carpenters’ Company, OLIN, Bartram’s Garden, and the National Park Service to plant two rare extinct-in-the-wild “Franklin trees” in front of Carpenters’ Hall, home of the First Continental Congress.

These Franklinia Alatamaha, or Franklin trees, were named in the 1700s by the namesake of Bartram’s Garden, John Bartram, a naturalist considered the “father of American botany,” and his son William. The Bartrams collected seeds, named the tree in honor of their family friend Ben Franklin, and began cultivating the trees in Philadelphia.

The Franklin Tree is known for its large, cream-colored flowers; glossy, narrow leaves; deeply colored fall foliage with late-blooming blossoms; and bright yellow-orange pollen-producing stamens. Every Franklin tree alive today descends from the seeds originally cultivated at Bartram’s Garden by William Bartram and his family. These trees are extinct in the wild today and exist only in botanical gardens and arboreta.

Also assisting in the tree planting will be: State Rep. Mary Isaacson, Kathryn Ott Lovell, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Visitor Center, and Jennifer Nagle, vice president of special projects at the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Fun facts: Carpenters’ Hall is the site of Benjamin Franklin’s Library Company of Philadelphia, secret meetings between Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Fancis Daymon, and French emissary Julien Achard de Bonvouloir which led to French support of the colonists, and The Franklin Institute’s first home.