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The Davey Bulletin | September/October 2017
IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO CARE FOR THIS 'ROYAL' TREE
Massive and majestic, meet Royalyn
– an approximately 300-year-old white
oak tree that lives quietly next to a
driveway in North Royalton, Ohio. The
tree reigned in the area nearly 100
years before the town was founded
in 1818.
"Caring and preserving trees like this
is extremely important. There are 300
years of history in that tree. It's been
around for more than twice as long as
our company. Man, if that tree could
talk," said Nick Stutzman, assistant
district manager, West Cleveland, Ohio,
Residential/Commercial services.
While the tree itself can't talk, it
does have tree stewards across the
town who happily speak up for its
well-being.
Pam Wetterau, the president of North
Royalton's Garden Club, found a
newspaper article from the early 1990s
about the tree. Until that moment,
she had no idea it existed! A tree lover
MY DAVEY
herself, Wetterau made the voyage to
admire the tree in person. Then, she
knew it needed some care and called
Davey Tree, who was mentioned in
the article that inspired her journey.
It was then that Wetterau connected
with Stutzman.
"Everyone at the office knew that
tree well because it was on an access
road to our wood waste site. That
was probably six years ago. Now it's
a parking spot for school buses. Still,
we were happy to help care for that
tree and knew it could likely use some
pruning and upkeep," Stutzman said.
Inspired and determined, Stutzman
reached out to the mayor, talked
about the project with Kyle Celmer,
district manager, West Cleveland,
Ohio, R/C office, and decided to
donate the work.
"Davey has been in the North Royalton
community for over 40 years. We
wanted to take the time to give back
to the city and make this tree look as
good as possible," Stutzman said.
Following in Wetterau's footsteps,
Stutzman and his team went out to
examine the tree. They were surprised
to find it in relatively good shape and
thought it was one of the nicest white
oaks in Northeast Ohio – especially
considering its age.
Before beginning their work or
climbing, they inspected the tree
because there's more risk of decay in
old trees. Finding nothing worrisome,
the team got to work pruning and
fertilizing Royalyn.
The foreman, Bryan Dring, was
stoked to climb the tree. He was
familiar with it thanks to its location –
and knew what a good climb it would
be. Plus, it's one of the oldest trees
around, which makes climbing it a
unique honor.
All went well, and now, as you can
see, the tree is restored to its natural
Honored to care for this tree and
satisfied with a job well-done, Bryan
Dring gives Royalyn a hearty hug.
