Neighborhood Tree Planting Program
The IHNA landscape committee proposes a tree planting program to increase the visual beauty as well as the ecological health of our neighborhood. Our Neighbors Alliance will provide young trees (about 5’ tall, in 3 gallon containers) and will help property owners plant them. We ask neighbors who participate in the program to make a $50 donation to IHNA which covers the cost the tree and of transporting it to your property.
What are the benefits of trees to home owners and neighborhoods?
1.) Shade trees increase the sale price of a house.
2.) Shade trees, and smaller trees planted close to the wall of a house lower air-conditioning costs.
3.) A shaded neighborhood invites residents to walk in it, which has health benefits, promotes neighborliness and reduces crime.
4.) Traffic moves more slowly on tree-lined streets.
5.) Trees are environmentally beneficial. They provide habitat for birds and pollinators, and they go a long way toward bringing nature back into our cities.
6.) Trees improve the water quality in our creeks and reservoirs. They channel rain water into the ground where urban pollutants get filtered out before the water enters into our watershed.
7.) Trees are beautiful.
Idle Hour used to be a treed neighborhood, but many of its original trees are now gone. Many silver maples that were so popular in the 1960s have been removed; others are damaged and look as if they won’t be around much longer. Now is the time to begin restoring some of the former appeal of our neighborhood through the thoughtful planting of trees.
Here is what we propose:
The IHNA landscape committee will provide two types of trees: shade trees and small trees. All the trees we provide must be native to eastern North America and must be suited to the site where they are to be planted. We will not offer trees that are already over-planted in Lexington and are therefore vulnerable to diseases (for example, we will not provide pin oaks, red maples and flowering dogwoods).
We ask that home owners who participate in this program agree to let our expert landscapers help them plant their chosen tree or trees. If you cannot physically participate in the planting, we will plant it for you, but we would want you to be there when we do that. We will provide instructions on how to take care of your new tree. In particular, we ask that, during the first two years, you water your tree when it gets dry and that you maintain a weeded mulch ring around your tree to prevent mower damage. We will prune your tree for you during the first 3 or 4 years of its life on your property. Since these young trees have few branches at first, slight but well considered pruning is important to encourage them to develop a good shape.
Note: We offer very young container-grown trees for two reasons; they are much cheaper and much easier to plant than the larger ball and burlap trees often sold by landscapers. A ball and burlap tree has a wider trunk diameter and many more branches than the trees we provide. But it will have been dug from the ground where it has grown. Such trees typically lose 80 or 90% of their root system. Obviously, these trees take their time to get reestablished at their final destination, i.e. in your garden. Research shows that 4-5 years after planting a container-grown tree is as tall and as lush as a ball and burlap tree.
If you are interested in participating, or want more information, please contact
Beate Popkin, chair of the IHNA Landscape Committee
Email: beatepopkin@gmail.com