Torreya taxifolia in Hendersonville, NORTH CAROLINA private landowner, Hazel Delcourt Red marks the site of 2 TORREYA TREES at the home along Cummings Cove Parkway. Hendersonville is in lower left. Notice "Biltmore Forest" at far right. ABOVE: The tops of the two trees are marked by yellow arrows. Hazel Delcourt wrote: "The trees are located in our native plant garden, on a well-drained slope 2250 feet elevation on the eastern side of the French Broad River and about 200 feet in elevation above the 2024 historic floods. We purchased the nursery stock at Woodlanders in 2015. They took a few years to establish but are now flourishing, surrounded by maxicat rhododendron (hybrid cross between Rhododendron maximum and R. catawbiense) and Euonymous americanus ("hearts a' bust in' with love" as known to Tennesseans)."    PHOTO LEFT: This is the tree marked by the left arrow in the previous photo. ____________________ July 2025 Hazel Delcourt contacted Connie Barlow and provided 4 photographs of the pair of trees. She wrote that the two trees were planted in a corner of the backyard: "They are about 8-10 years old and 10 feet tall, 1.5 inch diameter, similar in size to your photo of my tree at Junaluska NC taken in 2018. They are verdant, healthy, no rodent damage apparent but without any sign of fruiting." Note by Connie Barlow: All photos of the tree that Torreya Guardians named after famous paleoecologist Hazel Delcourt (upon planting in 2008) can be viewed here. ____________________ PHOTOS BELOW: Close-ups of each tree. ABOVE & BELOW: Connie Barlow's copy of Hazel Delcourt's 2002 book. The Founding of Torreya Guardians Inspired by Hazel Delcourt's 2002 book (excerpt below from History of Torreya Guardians webpage) BOOK BY U. TENN PALYNOLOGIST LINKS EASTERN FOREST PALEOECOLOGY WITH GLOBAL WARMING (2002): Connie Barlow read this book upon publication. Thanks to that reading, Connie's concern for Torreya taxifolia ramped up into a commitment to act. • Forests in Peril: Tracking Deciduous Trees from Ice Age Refuges into the Greenhouse World, by Hazel Delcourt, 2002    EXCERPTS: ... "My personal and professional odyssey as a historian of deciduous trees has brought me to the realization that the future of the eastern deciduous forest is now at risk. (p. 97) ... We can provide corridors to allow for species to migrate successfully in the face of climate change. We may also need to be prepared to transplant endangered species to new locations where climate will be favorable." (p. 207) Note: Delcourt's papers are cited in the 1986 recovery plan for Florida Torreya. _____ BOOK REVIEW by Connie Barlow, published in 2004 issue of Wild Earth. Note: An additional 2008 review by Connie Barlow of Forests in Peril, posted on Amazon, documents that this book played a pivotal role in the formation of Torreya Guardians: ... This is the book that launched our citizen naturalists group on the internet: Torreya Guardians. In reading Hazel's book, I was struck by how important the "pocket reserves" were to the preservation of rich forest species during the peak of the last glacial episode some 18,000 years ago (as well as all the previous glacial episodes). One of those pocket reserves runs along the edge of the Apalachicola River in the Florida Panhandle. And it is here that the most endangered conifer tree in the world, Torreya taxifolia, is gravely imperiled.... WWW www.TorreyaGuardians.org Return to HOME PAGE