Watering Time

Nancy Merrill, the Lorax of Wallingford, sends out this reminder:

It hasn’t rained measurably of late and planting strip trees and garden shrubs and trees are suffering. Weekly applied water from when we set the clock forward until we set it back in November is really vital most years. We delayed a bit this year because of the unusual spring rain, but it is now dry and warm. Trees are starting to leave the building.

Nancy, an SDOT Volunteer Tree Steward, is the founder of the It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Tree Planting Project, an ongoing project that provides and plants free trees in the planting strips of Wallingford. It began back in 1992 with spare DOT trees, and later with small Department of Neighborhood plantings. The first large-scale planting was in 1998 with trees from the Seattle City Light Urban Tree Replacement.

Last year, we discovered the project when we happened by a group of Wallingford neighbors filling in the holes around freshly set trees. We asked if we could have a tree, but were told that the cut-off for that particular planting was one block north of us. We dropped Nancy an e-mail and told her to let us know if our block ever came up for planting and thought no more of it.

So you can imagine our surprise when we stepped out our front door about two months back and found three city workers digging a hole in our front yard, a yearling tree laying nearby. Apparently, there was an extra somewhere. Thanks, Nancy!

Anyway, long way around of saying, Nancy knows trees, and if she says water your tree, water it.

If you’re curious about the IABDITNTP Project, the next round won’t be until the fall, and that may be at risk, as well, given the state of the budget, but we’ve got fingers crossed and, needless to say, we’ll keep you posted.