54
Varieties Of Trees
Sister
Marie Helene Monahan has 688 reasons — all in her back
yard — to marvel at the glory of God's creation. That
is the number of trees that Sister has identified and
located on the grounds of the Motherhouse.
Over
four seasons beginning in fall 1999, Sister Marie Helene
circled the Baden facilities and unearthed a wealth of
beauty — 54 different types of trees. In countless walks
that took her to the fringes of the densely wooded areas,
Sister befriended the baby evergreens, the crippled chestnut
oak, the ancient weeping willow, the hybrid hawthorn,
the fractured Bradford pear, and the abundant silver maples.
Among
her favorites are the honey locust, Norway spruce and
blue spruce "because of the graceful arches of their
branches," and the red maple because of its striking
fall display of bright red leaves.
"It's
amazing to think how God created so many different kinds
of trees," said Sister Marie Helene whose love of
nature dates to her childhood. As a young girl, she played
in the neighborhood woods of her small hometown of Lilly,
Pa., where hemlocks were plentiful. She also recalled
that as a novice, she often picnicked in what was called
the "Locust grove." In her estimation, the oldest
tree on the grounds is a Black Locust, which provides
a stately backdrop to the grotto.
As
Sister Marie Helene identified each tree, she also plotted
its location. She divided the property into six sections
on over-sized paper, drew significant landmarks and pathways,
and then added a red dot for each tree. Each section has
a key identifying the tree.
Sister
Helen Marie, the Congregational archivist, who relished
the opportunity to be out of doors, often accompanied
Sister Marie Helene, the Congregational librarian, on
her walks. "God has spoken to me many times through
nature," said Sister Helen Marie, who also grew up
surrounded by woodlands in the small town of Summerhill,
Pa.
In
planning the project, the two Sisters reviewed a 1982
tree survey of the property as a guide, but it proved
to be outdated as many original trees had died and many
new ones took root. Additionally, the tree population
had more than doubled over that 18-year period.
Sr.
Marie Helene occasionally referred to an Audubon guide
of native North American trees throughout the project.
But even John James Audubon couldn't help Sister when
she was stumped by a hawthorn that produced small scarlet
red double blooms unlike the sparkling white blooms of
the native tree. After further research, Sister identified
the hybrid as "Paul's flowering hawthorn" which
is alongside the Activities Building.
The
inventory yielded other discoveries. Silver maples top
the list at 108, followed by the sycamore, which numbers
68. There are trees that bear flowers, such as the flowering
crab, saucer magnolia, pussy willow and dogwood, and trees
that yield fruit, such as apples, pears, peaches and black
walnuts.
Sisters
Marie Helene and Helen Marie said the survey not only
will help them plan for future plantings of trees, but
it also will open up the splendor of their work to others.
With their work as a guide, the Eco Group recently installed
markers to identify the trees for nature lovers who use
the grounds for solitude and prayer.
