According to Wikipedia, a 'legacy tree' is one "which, because of
its great age, size or condition, is of exceptional cultural, landscape
or nature conservation value." Also know as a "veteran tree".

Therefore one can extrapolate from this that any tree has the potential for becoming a "legacy tree" in time if it matches those criteria. By definition then, a "small" flowering tree of any sort is unlikely to be considered a "legacy tree" as they do not tend to have extremely long lives nor achieve a significant size.

There are orchard apple trees around that are believed to be historic, a Judas tree in Paris is supposed to be a hundred years old and so on - try searching "old _ tree" and seeing what comes up.

Cercis, Styrax, flowering dogwood come to mind as some of the slower growing trees...but in general, the conifers and evergreens will usually grow at a much slower rate than flowering trees.

There's allegedly a tree planted by Jonathan Chapman somewhere in Ohio that lives on. I've never seen it and can't vouch for its authenticity, but I'd think this would qualify as a legacy tree if true.

A friend has a Johnny Appleseed's, seedling-apple.

Dax

Plant whatever you like and create your own legacy.

in general, the conifers and evergreens will usually grow at a much slower rate than flowering trees

Various conifers and eucalypts can be very fast.

My question is what small flowering trees that grow in Zone 6 are likely to live a long time. There must be some.

So, apples and (non-ornamental) pears?

I wouldn't dismiss apples - even the most aged, lichen encrusted venerables practically in their dotage have much to offer the conscientious gardener...if only useful as a handy living structure to drape a rambling rose on and provide a perch for a robin, ancient apples have an intrinsic dignity usually only seen in more majestic forest trees.

edlincoln - can you define what you mean by 'a long time?' Are we talking decades? Centuries? Millennia? How long do you want this thing to last?

i would recommend shrubs ... lol.... ;)

ken

Edlincoln, you've raised an interesting question. The only other long-lived, small flowering tree I can think of is Crataegus. I've seen some venerable specimens in the Midwest that maintain their grace and dignity in old age. I'll bet there are some amazing old Hawthorns to be found in Europe.

Any hard wooded rose family tree should have potential. And that's just one type - many kinds of small trees end up in nature as woodland undergrowth species that linger for long periods of time beneath the taller, more vigorous kinds that come to dominate the stand.

Cotinus obovatus (around 200 years*) - 20'-30'

Ostrya virginiana (around 200 years) - 20'-35'

Oxydendrum arboreum (around 80 years) - 25'-30'

Hamamelis virginiana (around 50 years) - 15'-20'

*I haven't seen these last long at all around here. They seem to be verticillium wilt magnets.

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK: In theory I like the idea of trees that live 200 years or more.

Also, I'm not sure longevity and slow growth are perfectly correlated.

maackia: I am planting hawthorn and craapples. The problem with the genus rosacea is there are A LOT of cedar in the area, so rust is a potential problem. Not to mention Japanese beetles.

ken_adrian: No one thinks of a "legacy shrub", but I suppose a multi-trunked shrub that suckers can live longer then a tree. The creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) can live at least ten thousand years. Not aware of any equivalent shrub that has conspicuous flowrers, and you couldn't necessarily tell it was ancient by looking at it...but if anyone can think of one, tell me.

brandon7 TN_zone(7)

I was actually thinking of Ostrya virginiana for other reasons. (wind resistance). Considered sourwood, but it would probably need coddling on the sites I'm considering. Haven't heard of most of the others.

As gardengal48 noted, there is an inherent contradiction between "small" and "legacy tree". I would suggest, however, that there are a number of magnolias suitable for Z6 that are relatively slow growing but capable of reaching great age and size. Within a few hundred yards of my house, there is a huge Yulan magnolia allegedly brought back from Asia as a seedling in the mid 19th century aboard a clipper ship engaged in the China trade. (There is also a very large ginkgo on the same one time sea captain's property with the same origin story so the tale is pretty credible.) Magnolia hybrids such as Elizabeth also show every sign of being a long lived tree. Whether the climate will remain suitable for a magnolia planted today over the medium to long term is another question entirely.

Flowering crabs are still probably the best bet for a long-lived ornamental tree in northern climes. That said, Crataegus-as already mentioned-is likely in the same category. As with any genus, the gardener would do well to pay attention to issues of disease resistance.

jeez ed.... it was presented as a joke ... worthy of a 'lol' .... not analysis ... ken

I would have to disagree with wisconsintom's recommendations for anyone living at all near the coast, which I believe is edlincoln's location. These may be great trees for vast areas of North America, but in areas of high humidity and coastal fogs both crabapples and hawthorns are extremely disease prone. Even those crabapples touted as disease resistant look pretty woeful by August due to cedar apple rust and insect attack.Hawthorns are a bit better but can be devastated by fireblight and several other fungal infections.

Yes, micro-location must always be considered. Did Ed say this was for his garden? Not sure I read that into the question.

No, I didn't say it was for my garden. Although of course I was partially thinking of it for my garden...it was also partially a parlor game. I do like crab apples...they produce flowers, they produce fruit birds like, they pollinate the neighbor's apple trees, they tolerate salt. There seems to be a gap between what in theory should do well and what I see in the area. I did find a healthy looking self-sown crab apple on a cliff right near the water in the area. However, there are also a lot of Eastern Red Cedar on the site and I've seen galls on them...so I'm worried.