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Day 10 & 11 - A weekend of rememberance
Like so many other people across the country, I woke up this morning with an odd feeling of melancholy. My newspaper had not yet arrived, so I went online and was reading articles about 9/11 when I came across this piece. It is about a plant that was found in the debris at Ground Zero during the search for survivors. At the time it was discovered, it was just the roots, but 10 years later, it is a thriving plant. The power of nature is amazing: a plant that had been in one of the World Trade Center Towers had survived. When I read about this plant, I was thinking about how the trees I’m planting will be in Indianapolis long after I am gone. On a very somber morning, it was nice to know that I was doing something positive for the city.
Yesterday, I planted a Chokeberry (Prunus virgiana) just to the south of the Lilly campus is downtown. It was another opportunity for me to bring a guest planter with me. This time it was a friend from work, Ridge Miller. I was very impressed with Ridge’s knowledge of planting trees. He was familiar with needing to find the root flare and how to make sure we planted at the right depth. The Chokeberry is known as an understory tree; it is rare that one would ever reach 30 feet tall. This was a very important element to this tree, as it in close proximity to some telephone wires. Though we see trees all the time that are being trimmed back because of interference with utilities wires, the best bet is to make sure you will never have that problem in the first place. Choosing the proper species is the way to go! Ridge, thank you for the help in planting the tree!
This morning’s tree was a Red Oak (Quercus rubra), and it towered over me. As you can see in the picture, its lowest branch is taller than I am. This was not a tree I could have planted on my own…mostly because I would not have had the strength to pick it up! I was a bit overwhelmed when I saw it, but thought, of all days, this was the right tree to plant today. The tree towered over me and when I looked at it I started to think about the Twin Towers. KIB had received a request to plant a tree in Lacy Park for 9/11, and it just all seemed to go together so well. I am still waiting to learn the purpose behind this specific tree and will share it in a future blog.
Fortunately, I had some help from Andrew Hart of KIB. We dug a deep and wide hole that fit with the width of the tree. It was a good 20 minutes of alternating between us digging and swinging the pick-axe. I am definitely ready for the next carnival to come to town so I can swing the hammer and try and ring the bell. We got the tree in, and it looked great.
I’ve now crossed the 1/3 threshold: 11 trees in the ground, 19 more to go!. This will be a fun week. I’m heading back to Heron Morton and Little Flower and also have plantings at Hooverwood (another giant tree), the convention center, and Horizon House.
