TREE OF NOTE - LAFAYETTE PARK SAWTOOTH OAK

Contributing Writer - Beth Volk, Business Manager
Ongoing Series - Trees of Note



The first warm sunny day beckoned and I headed straight to this amazing sawtooth oak (Quercus acutissima) in Lafayette Square. You are one stunning tree! I looked up into its branches and just had to see if my simple camera could capture the amazing way the branches reach up in perfect relationship to each other with the cerulean blue sky as background. Click. Alas, what the camera captures is just a hint of how beautiful this tree really is.

How did I choose my favorite tree? It’s hard to separate a great tree from a great place. When I think of Washington I think of a great capital city with the requisite tourists and public spaces. The sawtooth oak is a beautiful and grand tree – perfectly placed near the northwest entrance of the park.


How many Washingtonians and tourists alike have stopped over the years as I have to admire this tree? I’m happy to share my find for all others to enjoy too. Just don’t expect your camera to be able to fully capture this beauty!

Visit this Tree of Note!
Lafayette Park, Pennsylvania Avenue and Jackson Place, NW
Washington, DC 20006
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Sawtooth Oak 101:

• Location - native to eastern Asia, widely planted in the eastern North America
• Crown - rounded, broad, pyramidal shape
• Height - 35' - 45'
• Foliage - 4"-8" blades, oblong, alternate
• Color - bright yellow-green in the spring; turns a showy yellow to dull brown in the fall
• Fruit - bitter acorns that attract squirrels and birds
  
• Bark - gray-brown and deeply furrowed
• Landscape use - shade, street tree, buffer strips, large parking lot islands, tolerant of urban pollution

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Nominate a Tree of Note. All individuals that nominate a Tree of Note on the Casey Trees Map by Arbor Day on Friday, April 30 will be entered to win a signed copy of City of Trees by Melanie Choukas-Bradley.

TREE OF NOTE - MCPHERSON SQUARE RED OAK

Contributing Writer - Mike Galvin, Deputy Director
Ongoing Series - Trees of Note


A tree so big that it provides shade even when it has no leaves - that is worth saving!

The red oak (Quercus rubra), featured above, is located in downtown DC in McPherson Square. I took this photo in mid-March, too early for any leaves to be on the tree but perfectly timed to coincide with beautiful weather – temperatures in the 60’s. Just before I took this shot a man was relaxing in the shade of the tree. This tree is so huge it casts a great deal of shade even without any leaves. It is 60” in diameter – that’s almost 16’ around the trunk - and 115’ tall. It provides a great place to have an outdoor lunch and get respite from the heat of the day beneath its cool canopy.

I am not sure how old this red oak is but it is most likely not an original element of McPherson Square. Built in 1867, McPherson Square was originally named Scott Square as a memorial to Lieutenant General Winfield Scott. Five years later the statue of Scott was moved to the circle at Massachusetts and Rhode Island Avenues, and the square was planted with silver maples lining the perimeter, graded and sodded. In 1876 the statue of James B. McPherson, a Major General in the Union Army who fought in the American Civil War, was installed and the square was renamed McPherson Square.

In 1892, the Army Corps of Engineers completely redesigned the park. The entire grade was elevated and twenty-one existing trees were removed. This indicates that the tree was probably planted sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century and is approximately 100 years old today. A plant list circa 1905 lists two red oaks on the site – this tree could well have been one of them.

The National Park Service is again planning improvements to McPherson Square. The work is being planned in such a way so that this tree will be retained.

Visit this Tree of Note - McPherson Square, 1400 I Street NW, Washington DC 20050.
This red oak is also listed as a Trees of Note on the Casey Trees Map.
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Red Oak 101:

• Location - common to the East Coast and Midwest
  
• Crown - rounded
• Foliage - leaf is 4"-8" long, bristle tips on lobes
• Color - reddish in spring, dark green in summer, russet in fall
  
• Fruit - acorn has a saucer-like cap, takes two years to mature
  
• Bark - steel gray, ridged and furrowed
• Landscape use - great street tree; tolerant of urban pollution
  

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Nominate a Tree of Note. All individuals that nominate a Tree of Note by Arbor Day on Friday, April 30, 2010 will be entered to win an autographed copy of City of Trees authored by Melanie Choukas-Bradley.

WHERE IS YOUR FAVORITE TREE?

April is a big month for environmentally focused organizations. We've got Earth Day on Friday, April 22 and National Arbor Day closing out the month on the 30th. As you can imagine, Casey Trees is especially sweet on Arbor Day. My friend likens the entire month to being our Fashion Week. I kinda like that comparison.

Arbor Day did not start off small like other movements. In 1872, J. Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees. The first holiday was observed with the planting of one million trees in Nebraska. For over 135 years, governments, organizations, businesses and individuals have kept this tradition alive by adding to the tree canopy in their communities on National Arbor Day and on different dates adopted by individual states to coincide with that area's best tree-planting times.

In the District, Casey Trees is one of several organizations that adds to the City's tree canopy - with the help of countless volunteers - not just on Arbor Day but throughout the year. One way that Casey Trees encourages people to add and care for trees in the District is by helping them to remember that some of our most special memories revolve around trees.

We climb them as kids, steal kisses and picnic under their shade, get married under them, plant them to commemorate births, graduations and the passing of loved ones, smile when they bloom, watch birds nest in and squirrels scurry up them, and hide under them when a storm sneaks up on us.

These special memories are exactly why we created the Trees of Note program, an interactive feature of the Casey Trees Map that helps connect people to trees in the District deemed special because of their size, history and/or personal significance. The category names for each are Big Trees, Witness Trees and My Trees respectively.

In the weeks leading up to Arbor Day, Casey Trees staff will be profiling trees located in the District that have personal meaning to them. The reasons may be simple or grand but no matter the basis it shows that each tree is significant to someone and deserves to be be cared for and protected.

I hope these stories will encourage you to add your own Trees of Note to the Casey Trees Map. You can share as little or as much about the tree as you can or know. You can also add a photo of the tree. Have fun with it.

By taking a few simple minutes to tell us about your favorite trees in DC you are helping to draw attention to and appreciation for our great natural resource in the City - our trees. Then when you have a spare weekend locate some Trees of Note on the Casey Trees Map and bike, walk, run or drive to them. Make a day of it. You will not only discover impressive trees but neighborhoods you have never ventured to before.

And for those that nominate a Tree of Note to the Casey Trees Map by this upcoming Arbor Day (Friday, April 30, 2010) you will be entered to win an autographed copy of the wonderful City of Trees book authored by Melanie Choukas-Bradley. Each nominated tree is an entry and there will be several winners so enter often.

**The featured picture is of a Black Walnut on Mount Pleasant Street nominated as a Big Tree.

Happy nominating and tree planting!

TREE OF THE MONTH - LIRIODENRON TULIPIFERA

I go by two names, the Liriodenron tulipifera goes by five- tulip tree, American tulip tree, tuliptree, tulip poplar or yellow poplar – and it is not even on the run from the law. No matter what you call it the tulip tree, it is a pretty fantastic tree to plant in the District. Three states – Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee - love it so much they have even made it their official state tree.

Native to the eastern states, the tulip tree is a fast growing deciduous tree that produces pale green/yellow flowers starting at the top of April in the south and in mid April in DC. As you would imagine, the flowers bare a striking resemblance to actual tulip and stand upright. Unfortunately most of the flowers are borne in the higher reaches of tree and cannot be readily seen. The bark is gray with stripes of light gray in the furrows, its leaves extend about 6 inches long and wide, alternate and are heart-shaped. In the Autumn, the leaves become quite showy turning golden yellow to clear yellow. The tulip poplar easily reaches 70’ to 90’ in height and takes on an irregular shape as it matures. You can easily describe their trunks as massive.

Plant the tulip tree in full sun, deep, moist, fertile soil and with ample space to grow. The tulip tree is an ideal shade and landscaping tree.

Fun facts:

• The tulip tree, while not the most prevalent tree species in DC is one of the largest. As such the tulip tree provides the most ecosystem benefits of any tree species for the City since these services are tied directly to the tree's biomass i.e. total size, leaf area index, etc.
  
  
• When harvested from the forest, its soft wood is used for interior finishes in houses, siding, carriage panels and even coffin boxes.

• It is a major honey plant in the eastern US, producing a dark and strong honey preferred by bakers.

Be sure to locate all Casey Trees-planted tulip trees using the Casey Trees Map and add those that you have planted or are on your property but not yet on the map.

CASEY TREES ON THE ROAD

Casey Trees staff attends and presents at lot of local, regional, national and even international conferences and panels throughout the year. We encourage our team members to continually seek out innovative new ways to plant and care for trees, forge partnerships and stay abreast of Best Practices in urban forestry.

While we implement a lot of way we learn into our daily tree planting, care and education activities, we thought it would be helpful and interesting to share some highlights from these events with you so you can integrate them into your work. We believe in sharing.

As such, I introduce to you a new ongoing blog series called Casey Trees On the Road. Whenever a Casey Trees staff member hits the road to learn something new, we will report back. There is no better person than our Deputy Director, Mike Galvin, to kick it off.

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Contributing Writer - Mike Galvin, Deputy Director
Ongoing Series - Casey Trees On the Road

How to Plant a Million Trees and What Will it Get You

Now that the majority of people in the world live in cities for the first time in human history, many people are focusing on urban sustainability. If we are going to put such huge numbers of people in such small places we need to address a number of environmental issues such as air and water quality and quantity, urban heat island effect and strains on limited energy resources. Fortunately trees can play a role in mitigating these issues.

Consequently, a number of areas worldwide have launched million tree initiatives Including: New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA; Mankato-North Mankato, MN; the States of Tennessee and Maryland; Tong Liao, China; and Scotland.

No to be outdone, Tokyo, Japan has a 1.5 million tree project, London, England a 2 million tree goal and the United Nations Environment Programme has a billion tree campaign!

Few of these efforts have a holistic research component that is available for sharing. MillionTreesNYC is the exception.

I was fortunate to attend the MillionTreesNYC, Green Infrastructure, and Urban Ecology: A Research Symposium on March 5th and 6th at the New School in New York City. Researchers from Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Phoenix, Stockholm, and New York City, among other cities, presented on issues ranging from assessing large-scale reforestation efforts to stormwater management to green roof hydration.

I was also very pleased that we not only had something to learn but also something to share.

Holli Howard, our Director of Geographic Resources, presented on the results of our i-Tree Eco urban forest assessment in 2009 compared to the results from our 2004 study. Both of these studies were made possible by our Citizen Foresters who collected the data and our partnership with the National Park Service. Many cities have performed a single instance of such an analysis but the District is one of few cities world-wide that has repeated the analysis to track changes in its urban forest. Casey Trees has pledged to spearhead such an analysis every five years.

The expertise shared at the MillionTreesNYC symposium will be invaluable to us as we work toward implementing our own 40% by 2035 Urban Tree Canopy Goal (this works out about a quarter of a million trees for DC). We are very grateful to NYC Parks, the New York Restoration Project and the US Forest Service Northern Research Station for their leadership and willingness to share their experiences. Our efforts will be more successful for it.

CHERRIES OFF THE BEATEN PATH

Contributing Writer - Clea Levinson, Intern

Part 3 of 3 - Cherry Bonanza

Cherries, cherries, cherries!

Everyone wants to see cherry trees this spring but nobody wants to fight the crowds converging on the Tidal Basin - especially DC residents. The question is, where can you enjoy the beauty of the cherry blossoms without encountering massive crowds.

Fortunately cherry trees are planted across the City in public parks, along streets and on private yards for you all to enjoy with some sort of peace and quiet.

Casey Trees even has a clever online tool - Casey Trees Map - that allows you to locate cherry trees on National Park Service property and those that Casey Trees has planted. You can even add cherry trees that you have planted to the map so they can be counted towards the City's Urban Tree Canopy Goal of 40 percent by 2035 and so others can enjoy them.

Now lets hunt cherry trees.

Casey Trees Map

Hosted under the Geographic Resources/Interactive Maps and Tools page on the Casey Trees website, the Casey Trees Map puts the locations of cherry trees across the District at your fingertips.

Here are a few options for you:

Find National Park Service Cherry Trees

• In the Interactive Legend, select Citywide Trees of Note, then National Park Service Trees
• Watch them all pop up
  

Find Casey Trees-planted trees

• At the top left of the map, select Casey Trees' Planting and type in cherry tree
• Wow, 285 tree locations magically show
• Click on any of the purple tree icons to learn about the species, location and more
  

Add a Cherry Tree to the Map

• Have you planted a cherry or another tree recently? Add it to the map so we can count it towards the UTC Goal
• To add a tree, zoom into the map until the "Add a Tree" tool button shows up at the top right of the map
• Select to add a general tree or a Tree of Note
• Follow the prompts
  

Alternate Viewing Locations in DC

• Hains Point, located in East Potomac Park is a 300+ acre peninsula located between the Washington Channel and the Potomac River on the south side of the Tidal Basin. Here you’ll be able to enjoy the reflections of blossom in the water without a competing mob (or at least a smaller mob).

• The National Arboretum may seem like an obvious choice but with 446 acres of trees, shrubs and flower, the location allows for more flexibility (and space) when it comes viewing the trees. Plus the 70+ Cherry Tree types that grace the area guarantee some variety. 3501 New York Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20002.

• Anacostia Park offers another place to view the blossoms in a less commercial area. The park, located at 1900 Anacostia Drive, SE, is a stretch of 1,200 acres with shoreline access and recreational activities.

• Foxhall Village, situated near Georgetown may be the best-kept cherry blossom viewing secret in the District. The colorfully lined street around Foxhall and Reservoir Roads, NW make for the perfect walking and viewing location.

Happy cherry tree hunting!

WHY DO WE CELEBRATE YOU CHERRY TREE?

Contributing Writer - Clea Levinson, Intern

Part 2 of 3 - Cherry Tree Bonanza

Oh cherry tree, why do we celebrate thee?

The obvious answer is because their blossoms are pretty to look at and they signify the start of spring. The other reason, which many people non-DC residents may not know, is that the National Cherry Blossom Festival actually celebrates the United States and Japan's close friendship and commemorates the original gift of 3,000 cherry trees from the Mayor Yukio Oazki of Tokyo to the City of Washington.

A brief history lesson.

On March 27, 1912, First Lady Helen Herrron Taft and Viscountress Chinda, wife of the Japanese Ambassador planted the first two trees along the Tidal Basin. Since then, the United States has reciprocated with a gift of flowering dogwood trees, received 3,800 additional trees and even given cuttings from the original trees back to Japan to replace those lost in a flood. In its 98th year, the National Cherry Blossom Festival continues to host family-friendly activities that pay tribute to the culture, arts and friendship between our two countries.

Now a little bit about the cherry tree itself.

Japanese flowering cherry trees are native to Japan, produce beautiful flowers, and come in a variety of types. Today Washington has about 3,750 cherry trees of 16 varieties on National Park Service land and more on private and public lands. However, three cherry trees dominate in the District - Yoshino Cherry, Weeping Cherry and Kwanzan Cherry.

The Yoshino cherry was the original type of cherry tree given to the U.S. by Japan in 1912. The best way to identify the Yoshino cherry is by its long (6 inches generally), elliptic-obovate, coarse leaves. Its flowers, most spectacular in late March and early April, are initially pale pink and later turn nearly white. This tree frames the Tidal Basin and can be found in East Potomac Park and on the U.S. Capitol and Library of Congress grounds.

The Weeping cherry (Weeping Higan Cherry) is considered one of Washington’s more spectacular varieties of flowering trees because of its long pendulous branchlets that produce clouds of pink or white blossoms. The flowers can be double or single: single flowers following a star-shape, and the more rare double flowers, bell-shaped. Try and catch these blossom in late March and early April before leaf formation. The Weeping cherry tree is found in East Potomac Park, on the U.S. Capitol grounds and around other landmarks across the District.

The Kwanzan cherry tree is also part of the original 1912 gift. Its blossom emerge approximately two weeks later than the Yoshino trees and boasts a deep pink double blossom. Look for these in mid April. Leaves range from 3-7.5 inches, and are ovate, doubly toothed with a coppery or purplish color initially, then become green. The Kwanzan trees are planted all over the city but are planted extensively in East Potomac Park.

If you want to learn more about these and the other types of cherry trees in the District, you can read City of Trees by naturist Melanie Choukas-Bradley who leads several of our free Tree Walks throughout the year.

Tomorrow we will tell you how you can locate where other cherry trees are planted across the City so you don't have to fight the crowds on the Tidal Basin.

NATL CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL 411

Contributing Writer - Clea Levinson, Intern

Part 1 of 3 - Cherry Tree Bonanza


It’s that time of year again! Tree enthusiasts and sightseers will converge on the District starting this Saturday to celebrate two weeks of cherry blossoms, culture and art at the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

This year marks the 98th celebration of the gift of 3,000 cherry trees from the people of Japan, to the City of Washington. Millions of visitors flock to the City each year to see these gifts of friendship.

While the National Park Service has predicted the cherry blossoms will be at their peak from April 3 - 8, you can can expect to see beautiful pink and white flowers for weeks after. And of course you will be entertained by a wide variety of family-friendly activities taking place across the City.

Here are a few highlighted events even a D.C. native can enjoy:

National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade
Saturday, April 10; 10:00 a.m.
Constitution Avenue between 7th and 17th Street NW

Second Annual Cherry Blast Offers an Evening of Eclectic Art:
April 2; 9:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
1701 Florida Ave, NW, Washington, DC 200

Fireworks Show with Musical Prelude
April 3; 5:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.
Waterfront Park - 600 Water Street, SW

Eighth Annual Anime Marathon Film Festival:
April 3; Times TBD
Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art - 1050 Independence Avenue, SW

The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internments Camps, 1942-1946:
Mar 05, 2010 - Jan 30, 2011; Check museum hours.
Renwick Gallery - Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street NW

Daily Performances at Sylvan Theatre
March 27-April 11; held daily
Washington Monument Grounds - Independence Ave SW & Raoul Wallenberg Pl SW

Be sure to check the National Cherry Blossom Festival website for the most current event information.

Later this week we will give you a brief history of the festival, the different types of cherry trees you can find in the District and locations other than the Tidal Basin to view them. So much to cover.

Don't forget. If you are a lover of cherry trees, consider planting one on your property using a $50.00 Tree Rebate.