Champion Buckeye

Check out these pictures of an Ohio Buckeye I saw over the weekend.

Mary Jo and I were in Wheaton, IL. last weekend to see our daughter play soccer for the Wheaton College team.

We stayed at a Hyatt Hotel in Oakbrook on the campus of McDonalds corporate headquarters. (Also home of Hamburger University, where new McDonalds managers and owners get trained in. No joke). We had just checked out and I happened to notice this tree.  I didn’t think much about it, until I saw this sign in front of it. (See picture)

That's me at 6'2"+ under the tree

I did some research on it and found out that it is 150 years old, 73’ high, has a 176′” trunk circumference (That’s a 56” diameter)!  Normal Buckeyes are 30-50’ tall.

McDonalds required the hotel to be built a safe distance away to protect the tree’s root system. The tree is fertilized and watered regularly, and cared for by arborists.

I also found out that championship status is given only to native and naturalized trees in the United States. Winners are determined by a point system based on the trunk’s circumference and the height and the crown spread of the tree.