“I like big trees, and I cannot lie.
You arborists can’t deny,
when you got some girth
and a massive crown,
you know you wanna get down.”

— with apologies to Sir Mix-A-Lot

It is true…we like big trees. Interestingly enough, our earliest and most popular Tales of the Magic Skagit episodes had to do with one Skagit Valley tree in particular: the massive tulip poplar that spreads its leafy boughs over the intersection of Cleveland and Snoqualmie Streets, kitty-corner to the Mount Vernon Public Library.

Over the course of more than 200 episodes of TMS, we’ve devoted no fewer than three to the largest tree of its kind in the State of Washington. We first told the story, as far as we knew it, of Mount Vernon’s liriodendron tulipifera (tulip poplar) in two parts. The first was published on May 31, 2020, and the second was published a week later on June 9. We were gratified, if not a bit surprised, at how warmly our Meyer Sign friends and followers responded to these stories. So much so that we were inspired the following June to publish a sequel based on an interview with the person responsible for having our beloved liriodendron tulipifera designated a “State Champion.” Like I said…we like big trees. And so, obviously, does our TMS audience.

We recently discovered that this audience was larger than we had assumed — at least where the subject of big trees is concerned. On May 7, I received the following email from Gayle Foster Bodorff and Thomas Mair, who go by the endearingly unlikely moniker of “Tree People of Walla Walla”:

Hello Michael!

I just wanted to check in to say thanks again for the epic story about the epic Tulip Poplar. Gayle and I are currently here on this side of the mountains, in part to look for a big Tulip Poplar in Langley. We have a photo we took ten or fifteen years ago, but unfortunately we couldn’t find the tree this time around. Now I know better: when we find a big tree we try to get the GPS coordinates and keep it. We don’t have the faintest idea where the big Langley tree is.

In your essay you mention that Jim Barborinas refers to the Mr Vernon Tulip Poplar as the largest of its kind in the state. The book Jim Refers to is “Champion Trees of Washington State” by Robert Van Pelt. I carry that book with me when we travel as a reference. Unfortunately, a new print edition has not been printed since 1999. The on-line National Register of Champion Trees lists a tree in Virginia as the National Champion Tulip Poplar but your tree looks like a strong competitor. Next time we come over to this side of the mountains I’ll measure the Mt Vernon tree to see if it’s larger than the Virginia tree.

Gayle and I have been interested in big trees for a long time. You can see some pictures of our big trees on the “About Us” page on our website, where we have pictures of the big trees we’ve visited around the world.

Incidentally, Walla Walla has what we believe is the biggest London Plane tree in the world. I’ve notified people all over the world about the tree, and so far no one has come up with a bigger tree. We also have a page about the big London Plane tree on our web site.

Best wishes,
Gayle and Thomas
Tree People of Walla Walla

While I have always thought fondly of the “town so nice, they named it twice,” I hadn’t appreciated that Walla Walla is also a “tree town” — as is the city where my wife and I had lived for nearly twenty years before relocating to beautiful Mount Vernon: Boise, Idaho (aka, The City of Trees). In fact, the recent music festival that Boise hosts (pandemic notwithstanding) is called “Tree Fort.” It was Boise, more than any other place I’ve lived, that instilled a love of trees that now follows me wherever my footsteps take me these day — and , which has in turn reconnected me with the inner child that never met a tree he didn’t want to scale (I have a grandson who inherited that DNA as well).

If you hadn’t previously read our Tales of the Magic Skagit stories about Mount Vernon’s epic tulip poplar, and especially if you too are a tree person, I think you’ll enjoy them. I would also encourage you to visit Tree People of Walla Walla’s website, and check out their story about the World Champion that reigns in lofty majesty in their hometown.

By the way, I’ve asked Gayle and Thomas to give me a shout the next time they “come over to this side of the mountains,” and we’ll grab a cup of joe at Ristretto, pay tribute to our State Champion Tulip Poplar just a few blocks south, and “rap” about big trees. That’s how we roll here in the Magic Skagit, yo.