Extinct-in-the-wild trees named after Ben Franklin will soon be planted in Old City

Back in 1765, John Bartram and son William were enjoying a plant-finding trip to Georgia, when they spotted, nestled along the Altamaha River, a glossy, narrow-leafed tree, with large, fragrant, cream-colored blooms.

They had to have it.

John Bartram, a naturalist considered the father of American botany and founder of Bartram’s Garden, the oldest surviving botanic garden in America, collected seedpods from the tree, and propagated them back at the family garden in Southwest Philadelphia, where they quickly budded and grew strong.

Cordially, Bartram named the lovely tree after his good friend, Ben Franklin.

Soon the Franklinia Alatamaha, or Franklin trees, disappeared in the wilds of coastal Georgia, saved from total extinction only by its living descendants in Philadelphia. Every Franklin tree alive today descends from those trees cultivated in Bartram’s Garden.

Centuries later, the still extinct-in-the-wild trees will soon decorate the front garden of Carpenters Hall, home of the first Continental Congress.

In the lead-up to America’s 250th birthday in 2026, also known as the Semiquincentennial, two six-foot-tall Franklin trees will be planted on April 25 on both sides of the historic hall’s threshold.

“It’s going to be a wonderful, new visual treat for our visitors,” said Michael Norris, executive director of Carpenters Hall. “The connection to Franklin is a wonderful connection for us.”

Built in 1775 by Robert Smith — the same architect who designed Franklin’s nearby home and the location of Franklin’s Library Company of Philadelphia from 1773 to 1790 — Carpenters Hall had been searching for the ideal botanical addition ever since it completed a multimillion-dollar restoration and renovation project in 2022, and then suffered fire damage before reopening in 2023.

With America’s birthday bash approaching, the Franklin trees seemed more ideal than ever, Norris said. They will replace some “sad-looking boxwoods,” he said.

“We are honored to give these rare trees a position of prominence in the Historic District. We love that they’ll be a new piece of Franklin in the Historic District, along with everything else.”

The Franklins, should show their famous flowers around mid-to-late July, Philadelphia’s peak tourism season, noted Trevor Lee, a Carpenters’ Company member and a partner at OLIN, a Philadelphia landscape architecture design studio, which selected the trees.

“Visitors will cross the threshold greeted by its scent and stately presence,” Lee said.

The tree is known most for its bountiful orange blossoms and shiny leaves — not too different from a magnolia leaf, said Lee. The tree’s foliage turn a deep purple in the fall, before they shed. Black chokeberry will be planted around each tree, which should grow to 15- to 20-feet-tall in five years, Lee said.

Like their Founding Father namesake, known to be a lover of good food and wine, the Franklin trees also possess finicky tastes, said Maitrey Roy, executive director of Bartram’s Garden, which has a 30-year-old Franklin tree and some younger ones planted in a public park.

“They’re very particular,” Roy said. “They prefer well-drained soil, but it can’t become drought conditions. If it thrives, it does beautifully.”

The Franklin trees make an apt legacy for Carpenters Hall, said Roy, especially since Franklin, among many other interests, was a lover of natural science and would be happy to see them saved from extinction.

“We always say it takes courage to grow Franklinia,” said Roy. “Carpenters Hall is one of those iconic sites of Philadelphia courage.”