By Greenwich Sentinel / Featured Article / April 23, 2026
A group of residents stood beneath a towering Japanese white pine on a recent March afternoon, watching as a small team measured its trunk and canopy with practiced precision. The demonstration, part of the Greenwich Tree Conservancy’s Notable Tree Program, drew attendees to the Greenwich Botanical Center.
The gathering focused on something easy to overlook in daily life: the trees that have stood in place long before the town’s roads, homes, and schools were built. These trees, some of them recognized as the largest of their kind in Connecticut, have become markers of both time and stewardship.
Greenwich is well-represented in the database, with 208 trees total, of which 151 are confirmed to be extant. 32 are champion trees and 12 are co-champions, meaning that they were determined to be the largest examples of their kind found in Connecticut. To find out more about the Connecticut Notable Trees project go to: https://oak.conncoll.edu/notabletrees/
The program maintains a database of significant trees across Connecticut, and Greenwich holds a prominent place within it.
Frank Kaputa, co-chair of the statewide Notable Tree Program, led the presentation alongside team members John Kehoe, Marty Aligata, and Kyle Dougherty. Over the course of an hour, the group outlined how trees are identified, measured, and cataloged, and why the effort has grown into a statewide resource.
Read the full story here: https://www.greenwichsentinel.com/2026/04/23/our-oldest-trees-draw-crowd-sense-of-stewardship/