Resting Place: Spirit Trees

Apr. 21, 2015 | 4:00 AM

With 500 varieties of trees that hang over headstones and winding paths, Lake View is as much an arboretum as a cemetery. David Gressley, Lake View's former horticulturist and the current director of horticulture at Cincinnati's Spring Grove Cemetery, identifies three of Lake View's majestic guardians.

Ginkgo Biloba

About 30 of these botanically primitive trees dot the cemetery's landscape with brilliant golden hues. "Ginkgos were seen in fossil records before they were actually seen surviving on the ground," says Gressley. "They are among the oldest trees on the planet."

Japanese Maples

With pointed crimson leaves and twisting trunks and branches, these 50 prized ornamentals are resistant to diseases and invasive species. "They've grown in areas where these pathogens live, so they already have the immunities," says Gressley.

Purple Leaf Beech tree

The smooth, silver bark of these European giants hides beneath the oblong merlot leaves. "You don't see that different color and weeping form in American beech trees," says Gressley. "These have been extensively hybridized to bring out those traits."