Spring tree planting brings vitality

Springtime.  Birds are chirping, flowers are blooming, and trees everywhere are awakening from their winter slumber to once again break bud and offer their leaves up to the sun.

Right now, before trees completely wake up, is the perfect time to pluck them from the ground to be moved from the loving stewardship of our nursery friends around the region to their new homes in Pittsburgh’s four regional parks.  And thanks to funding from the TreeVitalize program, that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. 

Anyone strolling along the top of Flagstaff Hill in Schenley Park will surely notice the addition of many young trees to that cherished Pittsburgh landscape.  Ten new yellowwood trees populate the summit of the hill, while continuing down towards Phipps Conservatory one finds clusters of Swamp White Oak, Redbud, Serviceberry, and Sweetgum.  These trees comprise the next generation of landscape trees, spreading roots into the soil of their new home, and poised to assume the role of dominant shade trees when Flagstaff’s current council of wise old trees begins to senesce and disappear from the landscape.

Visitors will encounter similar planting sites in each of the 4 regional parks:

Horsechestnut and yellowwood trees line the Nine Mile Run Trail of Frick Park, promising shade to future visitors of the stream restoration.  Anyone waiting for a bus on the Perrysville border of Riverview Park will surely notice new additions to the nearby lawn, as redbuds and thornless honeylocusts dot the formerly uniform grassy slope.  And beginning tomorrow, visitors to Highland Park will notice city workers and PPC staff planting a variety of new trees around the Vernal Pools off of Washington Ave, and adding to last year’s collection of Turkish filberts on Mt. Bigelow.

DPW crews prepare the soil for tree planting.

But one cannot celebrate the addition of new trees in the spring without acknowledging the human labor involved to ensure these trees reach their new homes in good health and grow there heartily.  This spring, PPC staff and the Department of Public Works have once again teamed up to plant these large caliper trees in the parks.  With the mechanical strength of a backhoe, imbued with the grace of a human arm by a skilled operator at the helm, we dig holes at an efficient pace.  And fresh from a Tree Planting Workshop held this winter and hosted jointly by PPC and Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest, DPW workers and PPC staff skillfully maneuver the heavy trees into their carefully prepared planting sites.  Holding fast to the specs of proper tree planting, the final human touch ensures sound burial of the trees’ subterranean elements, and proud, straight orientation of the trunk and branches displayed to the world.

Kevin from DPW and Jake from PPC install a tree at Flagstaff.

Once installed, several seasons of careful watering and developmental pruning will be carried out before these trees are left to strike out on their own.  And as they mature into the canopy of the future, this spring’s trees will no doubt smile upon future generations of tree planters skillfully planting future generations of trees.

What a difference a day makes...