I painted these two watercolor views of our 50+ years old Bing cherry tree in its last week of life.

I painted these two watercolor views of our 50+ years old Bing cherry tree in its last week of life. Very sad to see it go (diseased roots and dead branches, but there were flowers and some cherries this Spring.) It was probably a direct descendant of the original Bing cherry stock, named after Ah Bing, a northern Chinese orchard keeper working with Milwaukie, Oregon’s Lewelling brothers on this very land in 1875. When Ah Bing went back to China, he was not allowed to return to Oregon due to Chinese Exclusionary Laws, part of Oregon’s vile history of racism. The Lewellings themselves fought injustice by supporting the abolition of slavery and they had named the precursor of the Bing cherry the “Black Republican” in honor of the party of abolition back then; they also bred a “Lincoln” cherry. -- source link

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