Maplewood residents have been on tenterhooks waiting and watching for the 350ish-year-old great white ash tree in Memorial Park to leaf out this spring.
After the Maplewood Memorial Park Conservancy posted a notice on May 13, the tree seemed to take heed and finally began its transformation — but the lateness of the leafing and the incompleteness along some branches are still concerning. The tree has been inoculated regularly against the Emerald ash borer, and the township arborist is doing an assessment.
Great White Ash Tree in Maplewood Memorial Park, May 19, 2025.
Great White Ash Tree in Maplewood Memorial Park, May 19, 2025. Not all branches are fully leafing out.
In 2022, the tree, which sits at the top of the hill in Memorial Park, was certified as a Signature Tree, the biggest ash in Essex County and the second biggest in the state. It is now listed in the NJ Big and Heritage Tree Registry.
The Conservancy’s landscape consultant Jennifer Ryan nicknamed the tree “Yggdrasil,” in Norse mythology, the world tree, a giant ash supporting the universe.
Read more here: A Tree Grows in Maplewood — And It’s 340 Years Old
