A Super Arbor Day

What makes an Arbor Day super?  

When it's a Super Bowl, Super Grow Arbor Day!

In honor of Super Bowl XLV The City of Grapevine is one of 12 host cities in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex participating in the Super Grow XLV program.  More than 6500 trees will be planted throughout the host cities to offset the environmental impact of the Super Bowl being held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on February 6, 2011.

For those non-football fans among you (and for those of us who haven't studied Roman numerals since elementary school), XLV is 45 to us common folk.  So to commemorate Super Bowl 45, the City of Grapevine planted 45 trees on their January 8 Arbor Day (with the help of many volunteers).  Grapevine has received the "Tree City USA" award for the past 25 years for its participation in Arbor Day.

Here are my tips for successfully planting trees...

When planting trees, never add anything to the planting hole except the soil that came out of the hole.  Plant the trees high.  Take the tree out of the container, scrape the top couple inches of soil off the top of the root ball until you can see the flare of the trunk.  (I just use a broom to brush the soil away).  That is the top of the root ball.  Break up any roots encircling the root ball.  

 

Plant the tree in the planting hole with the top of the root ball (the flare of the trunk) a couple inches ABOVE your soil grade.  Backfill around the root ball with the soil that was dug out of the planting hole.  Water well to settle the soil.   Add compost to the TOP of the root ball area if needed, feathering it out to your surrounding soil grade.  Then mulch around the tree taking care to not cover the trunk flare. 
 

NOTE:   If you are planting a Shumard Red Oak or Chinese Pistache, you will need to wrap the trunk with tree wrap for two years to prevent sunscald and borer attack. 

A poem was read at the beginning of the Arbor Day festivities.   This poem was written by an elementary student several years ago.  Her poem captures how valuable trees are in our environment.   I wonder whether this student is on her way to getting a degree in forestry now :-)

A WORLD WITHOUT TREES

I once had a dream

about a world without trees.

There were no green things

as far as I could see.

It was time to start my day;

My mom told me to get up.

I ate my pancakes sadly

because there was no maple syrup.

I sat on plastic furniture

because there was no wood.

I played on my plastic piano,

but it wasn't very good.

It really hurt my lungs to breathe.

There were no trees to clean the air.

I looked out of my window.

There was erosion everywhere!

I went out in my yard one day

just to pass the time.

There were no leaves to jump in,

nor big, tall trees to climb.

There were no sounds

of singing birds

or little chipmunks

to be heard.

No soft, sweet fragrance

filled the air

from blossoming trees

which would should've been there.

I found no shady place

to read my book;

No weeping willows

by a shady brook.

I came in thirsty and hungry

But Mom said with a sigh,

"I'm sorry, there's no lemonade,

and I can't make apple pie."

There was no wood for the fireplace,

No nuts for little squirrels,

No paper for me to write on,

No treehouses for little girls.

I woke up from my horrible dream

to the sound of humming bees.

How very thankful I was when I saw

this beautiful world filled with trees.

By Tiffany Rene' Scherich, Silverlake Elementary, February 1996, 4th grade

For another great blog heralding the value and benefit of trees, check out Garden Walk Garden Talk.

Have you ever heard that trees reduce stress and actually aid recovery after surgery?  Since I have surgery on my gimpy arm scheduled for February 15, 

I'll have to put this theory to the test!

Until next time...

Give thanks for the trees!!

Toni :-)