Monthly Archives: May 2010

Watering boy by Jon Hayes Photography.

As promised Monday, today for Tree Week GM will address the “do’s” of caring for our precious street trees.  You’ll see pretty quickly that the do’s make up a short list, so you don’t have much of an excuse for not pitching in where you can to ensure the health of our tree canopy.

Do #1 – Water, Water, Water

There is one thing that trees, particularly young ones, need above all else: water. Yes, we’ve had a pretty rainy spring, but our summers can be brutal on trees. We can go weeks without a significant rainfall. And even when we get those typical summer flash storms, most of the water runs straight to the storm drains and fails to reach the trees.

That’s why it’s incumbent on us to keep our trees fully watered. The basic goal you should have is to water young trees two to three times a week Correction: Depending on how wet or dry the weather it, you can get away with just one watering a week, but if you do just water it once, please make sure you really are getting a full 20-25 gallons in. You should start when the trees start leafing in the spring and continue all the way until they lose their leaves in the fall. Continue reading →

Tree-lined streets are one of the most often mentioned features that people associate with Georgetown. And it’s for good reason. Georgetown wouldn’t be what it is were it denuded of its beautiful tree canopy. Yet, beyond merely associating Georgetown with tree-lines streets, most people don’t think about our trees much more than that. So to address that, GM is introducing Tree Week here at the Georgetown Metropolitan. Each day a different topic relating to our trees will be discussed.

History

Throughout its history, the District of Columbia was known for its trees. In fact, it was often referred to as a city of trees. But that reputation was slowly lost during the second half of the 20th century. By the middle of the Barry era, DC’s street trees were in terrible shape. Georgetown was no better.

About 20 years ago, three georgetowners got together to do something about the state of Georgetown’s street trees. They formed Trees for Georgetown, which continues today as a part of the Citizens Association of Georgetown. Trees for Georgetown is a fantastic organization that is making huge strides in improving Georgetown’s canopy. (They will be the subject of tomorrow’s post). Continue reading →