Planting ceremonies in the United States will form part of plans for an historic Lichfield tree loved by Samuel Johnson to live on across the Atlantic.
Cuttings from Johnson’s Willow have been planted at Vassar College in New York State and at Graeme Park in Pennsylvania through a collaboration between Lichfield District Council and The Johnson Society.
Sitting at the side of Stowe Pool, the tree was originally planted around 1700. The fifth generation of the tree was planted at the pool in 2021.
Then in 2022 cuttings from the fourth generation tree, which had come to the end of its natural life, were sent to the United States for planting.
The project was inspired by 18th century American poet Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson, who read of the tree and had expressed a wish that a cutting would get to America.
John Winterton, of The Johnson Society, said:
“The idea for this project came to me in 2019 when I was editing Fergusson’s Willow odes, and I am very grateful to everyone else who has helped with it since then.
“Fergusson would surely be delighted that her wish has finally been fulfilled – even though it has taken 237 years to achieve.”
John Winterton
Professor Robert DeMaria Jr, of Vassar College, said:
“We are very pleased to make this connection between Vassar and Lichfield and to have a living memorial of Johnson on campus.
“The great Johnsonian Mary Hyde Eccles graduated from Vassar in 1934 – she would surely have been pleased by this additional connection.”
Prof Robert DeMaria Jr
Lichfield District Council community gardener Paul Niven, who nurtured the fifth generation of the willow, said:
“Having previously propagated the fifth Johnson’s Willow at Stowe Pool, I was asked to investigate the possibility of exporting cuttings to the United States.
“After nearly three years of work, I am thrilled with the planting of cuttings.
“I hope this will give a living piece of old England to places of culture and learning with connections to Samuel Johnson.”
Paul Niven
