This Old Tree
Episodes
On Defense: Estonia's Stadium Oak
31 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the small Estonian town of Orissaare, football players dribble around a 150-year-old oak tree standing impossibly in the middle of their soccer fie...
Arborists Live: Our Tree Stories
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when six arborists come down from the trees to step behind the mic? Find out by listening to this special episode of stories by tree prof...
The General Sherman Tree: First Encounters
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
High up in California's Sierra Nevada mountains stands the largest tree on earth by volume - the General Sherman Tree. The famous giant sequoia h...
S'Ozzastru and the Ancient Olive Trees of Sardinia
24 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Some trees are old — and then there's S’Ozzastru. Nestled near the village of Luras on the island of Sardinia, this ancient olive tree has st...
The Ginkgo at Gu Guanyin Buddhist Temple
19 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Have you seen those breathtaking aerial photos of a solitary ginkgo tree in a courtyard, its leaves creating a perfect golden carpet of fallen leaves?...
Tree Story Shorts IV
24 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the fourth edition of "Tree Story Shorts" on This Old Tree, where guests get to tell their own tree stories! Salacious pepper tre...
India's Kabirvad Banyan Tree
05 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Meet Kabirvad, a 500 yr-old, 4 acre banyan tree in the heart of Gujarat, India. The spectacular tree is a national treasure associated with Saint Kabi...
London's Charlton House Mulberry
18 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know the British are mad about mulberries? A 415 yr-old black mulberry tree stands at Charlton House & Gardens, the oldest specimen in Lon...
Saving Seeds: Bartram's Franklin Tree
07 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
John Bartram was a Quaker farmer near Philadelphia in the mid 18th century. So how did he become North America's first great botanist? And how di...
The Tree That Owns Itself
28 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Legend has it that Col. William H. Jackson of Athens, Georgia loved his old white oak tree very much. So much, that he created a deed for the tree and...
The Mariner and the Mulberry
28 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A large old mulberry tree at Truro Vineyards on Cape Cod comes with a legend. A sea captain brought it back from the South Pacific and planted it for ...
Tree Story Shorts III
08 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Here's the third edition of "Tree Story Shorts" on This Old Tree, where guests get to tell their own tree stories! Charles Darwin, brid...
Europe's 2023 Tree of the Year: The Fabrykant Oak
13 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Fabrykant Oak, translated as the "Factory Owner's Oak," received 45,000 votes to become Europe's Tree of the Year. Located in ...
The Emancipation Oak
13 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A 300 yr-old Live Oak tree on the campus of Hampton University in Virginia stuns visitors with its strength and beauty. It’s also an enduring symbol...
The Autograph Tree
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A stunning copper beech tree in Ireland’s County Galway attracts tourists from around the world. Lady Gregory was its owner, and she drew legendary ...
Trees in Song: Season 1 Finale
08 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This season 1 recap features thematic highlights from the first 18 episodes, Doug's favorite songs about trees, and an interview with Dee Lee, ar...
Texas Shade: The Founders' Oak
03 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Founders' Oak in New Braunfels is a "Famous Tree of Texas." The 300 yr-old live oak has given shelter to a Spanish Mission, a Germa...
Preservation is Progress: The Brontë Oak
05 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Brontë Oak is a massive white oak tree in Oakville, Ontario that has been threatened by every type of construction project imaginable. Logging, o...
The Moses Cleaveland Trees
27 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1946, 153 "Moses Cleaveland Trees" were chosen as landmark trees to represent the City of Cleveland's 150-yr anniversary. Not only d...
The Imperial Pine Bonsai
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The stately "Imperial Pine" is the only bonsai ever to leave the Japanese Emperor's collection, and it resides at the National Bonsai &...
The Katsura at Dumbarton Oaks
11 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Meet the charming old katsura tree in Beatrix Farrand’s famous garden at Dumbarton Oaks. It might be the oldest katsura in North America, or maybe n...
Tree Story Shorts II
26 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is the second edition of Tree Story Shorts on This Old Tree, where listeners get to contribute and tell their own tree stories! From New York to ...
The Major Oak of Sherwood Forest
13 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sherwood Forest in the County of Nottinghamshire lays claim to a world famous tree, The Major Oak. It may well have harbored Robin Hood and his merry ...
The Birthing Tree
27 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There's a huge, spreading, 350 yr old plus white oak in McMinnville, Tennessee with a legend. It was known to the early pioneers, and it's n...
Guarding the Cedars: Gilgamesh, and John Perlin's "A Forest Journey"
13 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gilgamesh, the Sumerian king of Uruk, threatens to cut down the sacred Cedar Forest and claim its wood for his people. First, he must kill the terrify...
The Charter Oak
30 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
King James II of England threatened to revoke the precious Charter of Connecticut in 1687, and sent one of his men to retrieve it. That meant an end t...
Harlem's Tree of Hope
13 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Picture yourself in Harlem in New York City, and it’s the 1920’s. There’s a cultural awakening going on - there’s jazz and dance, theater and ...
Tree Story Shorts
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This a special episode of This Old Tree, the show that features heritage trees and the human stories behind them. This time, listeners tell their own ...
Luna Endures: A Redwood's Survival Tale
26 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Luna is a 200 ft tall redwood tree that towers on a ridge deep within a privately owned forest in northern California. You may remember Julia Butterfl...
The Mies van der Rohe Honeylocust of the Alfred Caldwell Grove
11 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A big, old, thorny honeylocust tree on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago has a place within the history of modernist archi...
The First 9/11 Survivor Trees
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Survivor Tree is a well known tree planted at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City that was rescued from the rubble at the World Trade Ce...
Chronicling a Tree: Thoreau's Concord Elm
14 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Concord, Massachusetts, 1856. Four men cut down a huge, seemingly healthy American elm tree using block and tackle, and ropes drawn by a horse. The gr...
The Edison Banyan
01 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Why did Thomas Edison plant a banyan tree sapling at his winter residence in 1926? You guessed it, there was an experiment involved. Native to India, ...
The Betsey Williams Sycamore
15 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Betsey Williams Sycamore is the most famous tree in Rhode Island. Its huge girth and spreading branches have been photographed, climbed on, and lo...
Trailer
07 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Join host Doug Still - each show features heritage trees and the human stories behind them. Old trees are awe inspiring links to the past that fire o...