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A follow-up to Wednesday's posting ...The Growler contacted the City Arborist John Noelle and he confirmed that a City contractor was indeed planting replacement trees on the 400 block of West Street the other day.
When asked why he was authorizing tree planting in a heat wave and drought, Mr. Noelle said that otherwise the trees would simply sit in the nursery.
Hmmmmmmmmmm.... Those trees would undoubtedly be better left in the nursery until fall, especially since they would be well looked after. Curious, since as one reader noted the Arborist has in the past refused to plant trees until fall, which is the optimal time for planting.
Anyhow, the Cranky Green One is starting to wonder, like another commenter suggested, if this is an example of how the City is trying to buff up the neighborhood in advance of the next draft of the Braddock Road Plan and the Mayor's proposed September walk. If so, this is a wasteful PR gesture.
The Growler checked yesterday morning and the West Street trees appear to have been watered. The droopy one seemed better.
In the meantime, during a stroll-through yesterday the Growler noted that the trees in Interior Park (between Oronoco and Pendleton) seemed to be fine, which was confirmed by a commenter who advised us that neighbors were watering the saplings.
Give them a big green hug!
Unfortunately, there seems to be less community engagement over in Pendleton Park. The photo above shows what the Growler believes are newly planted arborvitaes dying there, probably from a lack of water. There is another young tree in the southwest corner of the Park that also looks like a crispy critter, but it isn't clear when it was planted. It definitely still has the soil bowl around its base, done at planting to retain moisture, so it hasn't been established very long. Mr. Noelle did observe to the Growler that some of the trees the City planted this spring are having problems due to the drought.
All the more reason, the Growler thinks, for the City to wait until October and November to plant.
4 comments:
If the tree came with trash pickup, I am all for it!
But if the City thinks planting trees makes the neighborhood look nice prior to the September walk, they are probably as incompetent as most people say they are.
"The photo above shows what the Growler believes are newly planted arborvitaes dying there, probably from a lack of water."
If the Growler really has a green thumb then it should be obvious that they have a disease. No amount of water will save them.
And what disease would that be?
Drought-stressed plants are more vulnerable to disease and pests.
Another reason to plant in the fall is that in cooler weather disease has less chance to take hold.
Speaking of trees, look at those beauties being installed at the Monarch! It looks like every other one is dead or dying! Let's see the almighty P&Z staff try to enforce the SUP and make them install new ones!
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