oh no!
(2) trees have been killed out of the (7) we planted on December 10th, 2011. Am I upset? Yes- of course. Am I discouraged? Not even close. Not even if all (7) trees were damaged and killed would I stops doin’ what I’m doin’. And I’m doin’ what I’m doin’ because it has to be done. Did the people who know better tell me to plant bigger tree? Yes- they did. Would I have done this differently if I could have? I’m not so sure. TreePeople has a system whereas they involve the community with their plantings- this is why I was ultimately drawn to them as non-profit organization. TreePeople plants 15 gallon trees (on the small side) so that people don’t get hurt planting them. On the “event day”- all sorts of people showed up and ate and planted trees together- it was a beautiful thing. No regrets. Moving forward though, I will take a decidedly different approach to tree planting.
I don’t want to speculate as to who or what did the decimating but one thing I can say is that every time I go outside to water the trees or to check on them, which is at least once a week if not more- the amount of positive feedback I get from the people on the street is enough to keep me motivated to do whatever it takes to make more trees happen here in Skid Row.
breathe...breathe...must re-plant. must re-plant.
Next plan of action- replant using larger trees where possible and go from there. I called this tree planting a “project”- and that’s what it is. I will need to learn and grow and change according to the environment. Planting things is, to my mind- somewhat trial and error anyways- you win some, you lose some. I know I have lost several houseplants for reasons only mother nature knows. People come into the mix when you plant things in the public space.
One thing that I noticed on a baby tree is some new growth. Green shoots! Hope grows here on the ‘Row. This is what I live for. I hope it rains this weekend. Our trees need a shower.
green shoots on the top of a Golden Trumpet tree
Go Katherine, this is a beautiful change!