As the old adage goes, life imitates art, and in the case of George Harrison’s memorial tree, life imitates art in laughably ironic ways. Just over a decade after Harrison died from cancer at 58 in Los Angeles, California, the city honored the former Beatle and avid gardener with a botanical memorial in Griffith Park.
The L.A. City Council planted a pine tree sapling shortly after Harrison’s passing in the scenic park that overlooks the sprawling metropolis. By 2013, the tree had grown to over 10 feet tall. One year later, the tree had met its tragically humorous demise.
An Insect Invasion Killed George Harrison’s Memorial Tree
The pine tree overlooking Los Angeles was a touching tribute to the musician who spent his final years in southern California. Beneath the tree, the city installed a small plaque that read, “In memory of a great humanitarian who touched the world as an artist, a musician, and a gardener.” The plaque also included one of George Harrison’s favorite quotes from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: “For a forest to be green, each tree must be green” (via BBC).
Harrison’s memorial tree grew on the California mountainside for years before, ironically, a beetle infestation took over the tree. L.A. City Council officer Tom LaBonge explained to the Los Angeles Times that these types of insect invasions were not uncommon in Griffith Park. Bark beetles, ladybug beetles, and other “tree-unfriendly” creatures would occasionally take over Griffith Park flora, and George Harrison’s memorial pine just happened to be one of them.
Paula Greenfield, who helped arrange the initial tree planting, told The Guardian in 2015 that she thinks Harrison would’ve found the dark humor in an invasion of beetles eating away at his tree. “George Harrison had a wonderful, wonderful and, according to some people, wicked sense of humor. And he was a gardener. He would have understood.”
The City Quickly Found A Beetle-Resistant Replacement
Within a year of the city of Los Angeles removing George Harrison’s dying memorial tree from Griffith Park, the council found a sturdier replacement. In February 2015, the council re-planted a memorial tree for the former Beatle, choosing a shrubby yew pine. This pine species survived the ice age and better resists drought and beetles than the original pine they planted years earlier.
The city planted the tree on February 25, what would have been Harrison’s 72nd birthday. An L.A. band provided music for the memorial, appropriately including Harrison’s songs like “Here Comes the Sun” and “Give Me Love.” Several hundred people came to watch the planting, including members of the city council, Harrison’s fans, and his family, including his sister-in-law Linda Arias and sister Louise.
Louise Harrison was responsible for another notable memorial of her world-famous brother on a rural stretch of Interstate 57 in southern Illinois. George had visited his sister in the early 1960s, just before Beatlemania hit the States, enjoying a couple of weeks of anonymity that he would certainly never get again in his lifetime. To honor his brief stay in Illinois, California artist John Cerney made a 3-D mural along the interstate, which features a young 1960s-era Harrison playing guitar to three screaming fans. While this memorial might not get as much traffic as Los Angeles’ famous Griffith Park, at least it’s less likely to get taken over by (real) beetles than a tree.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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