Athens' leafy landmarks

Rinne Allen still remembers the day her grandmother took her into downtown Athens to watch a bunch of adults dedicate a grove of seedlings near the corner of Dougherty and Thomas streets.

She was 9 and didn't really understand what was going on then, but as she has grown so has her appreciation of the connection she has to the trees on that corner. Each one was planted in 1982 in honor of a child.

"I can remember the dedication ceremony and my grandmother - my mother's mother - had the tree in my honor," Allen said. "We went to the ceremony, and there was a little label on the tree with my name on it.

"And now 30 years later, when I drive by those trees I still have that memory. It kind of flashes through my head. That particular grandmother is no longer living, so seeing it kind of reminds me of being with her."

The Tree Babies, as that downtown grove is called, comprise some of the 1,000 trees that the Athens-Clarke County's Landscape Management Division has recognized as Landmark Trees - trees that have a story or are so rare, large or old that they deserve honoring.

Each year new trees are added to the registry and each year the Athens-Clarke Tree Council, a board of citizens and government officials created in 2000 to promote tree preservation, gives tree maintenance grants to help owners keep the trees alive and thriving. The council has inducted four new landmark trees onto the registry so far in 2010, the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, but always is looking for new additions.

People can nominate any tree - but to qualify, a tree has to stand out in some way. For instance, it could be the largest of its species in the state or in the county.

There's a flowering dogwood at the corner of Prince Avenue and Talmadge Streets that has been documented to be the largest in the state, measuring 40 feet tall and 26 inches around its trunk.

Athens Regional Medical Center owns the dogwood, and the hospital logo is based on a photo of the prized tree, according to documents provided by the tree council.

Size isn't the only thing that makes a tree qualify as a landmark. The community's

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