Children of the Ashdale Tree: Nova Scotia plays refuge to critically endangered chestnut trees

HALIFAX: The largest American chestnut in the world stands on a backroad in Hants County, planted in 1905 and exploding skyward with the unruly enthusiasm of a firework. Standing in the open with little competition for sunlight, it didn’t grow with the characteristic straightness of its species, instead dedicating huge branches haphazardly north and south,…