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Earlier this fall, Arlington County held a free native tree give-away program. A limited number of young trees, called “whips”, were made available to county residents on a first come first serve basis. Four Meadows residents—Claudia Brown, Joe Spytek, Iolaire McFadden, and Deborah Spence—were able to reserve trees. Two of the new trees are Sweetgums, two are Tulip Poplars, and all will help contribute to the shade canopy of the Meadows.
American Sweetgum trees are prized for their star-shaped leaves that turn a mix of brilliant fall colors. If you also associate Sweetgums with the round, spiky fruit that they drop every summer, we’ve been told that the County generally provides the non-fruiting cultivar that can grow up to 70 feet in their give-away programs; we shall have to wait and see! Tulip Poplars are fast-growing members of the Magnolia family. They have tulip-shaped, light greenish-yellow flowers from April to June, and turn bright yellow in the fall. They can attain heights of 100 feet, but stay relatively narrow in shape.
The Buildings and Grounds Committee worked with our landscaping contractor to find homes for the four new trees. Somewhat surprising is that there are not as many good spots for new trees in the Meadows as we expected! Site selection needed to take into account distance from buildings and other trees to ensure these four would have the space they need to grow.
One tree will be planted in Court 3, one between Courts 3 and 4, one between Courts 11 and 12, and one in Court 14. They are all currently only about four feet tall, so they will be staked and given slow release watering bags to help them grow. We hope that if you see one of the new little trees near your unit you will help with making sure it’s watering bag stays full. These new trees belong to all of us, so lets all help them grow!
The photo with this story is of one of the Sweetgum trees, on a patio awaiting planting.