On Sunday afternoon, I stood next to the 200-year-old Jackson Magnolia. It showed its age and was supported on all sides by cables tethered to a steel pole.

President Andrew Jackson planted this tree, grown from seeds he brought to Washington from the Hermitage (his home near Nashville) in memory of his wife, Rachel, who had died suddenly months before he assumed office.

Back in the late ‘90s while living in Manhattan, I acquired a 4-foot sapling from that very tree and grew it in a pot on the roof of my building. When I moved to Williamsburg, I planted the sapling in McCarren Park to watch it grow from my apartment window. A week later, a Parks and Recreation employee on a tractor mower cut it down.

Yesterday, the day after I took these photos of the original magnolia at the White House, it was cut down “for serious safety reasons”. In its place, they planted a 12-year-old sapling, a direct descendant of the original.

The National Park Service announced they are collaborating with the White House executive residence to "ensure the preservation of the salvageable remnants of the 'Jackson Magnolia.'"