THE HIGHLANDS PLATEAU GREENWAY

PLANTING TREES

    On November 21, 2009, 35 volunteers from Greenway, Highlands Falls Country Club landscape crew, Mountain and Laurel Garden Clubs, the Land Stewards, and several individuals planted along the Greenway Trail 37 of 63 trees, which were generously donated by David Simms of Highlands Lawn and Garden. The locations included the Big Bear Pen Trail, the Recreation Park, Miss Reba's Park at 4th Street and Foreman Road, the Mill Creek Trail near the bridge, Kelsey-Hutchinson Park, and the Kelsey Trail.

After a short training session, division into groups, and a demonstration of proper planting procedures, the volunteers spent two hours setting out cherry, cypress, dogwood, maple, and service berry trees.

Essential to each tree's survival were removing any large roots that circled more than one-third of the root ball, placing the root ball so that the trunk flare/root flare was at least 3 inches above the soil line, replacing soil removed from the hole as the best backfill, not stepping on the backfill firmly which might cause excessive compaction, and supporting the tree with strands of rope or wire tied through rubber hoses to guying stakes, loosly so that the tree might sway easily and strengthen itself during strong winds.