December — Tree Talk

Trees. They’re part of our name for a reason. They make up an integral part of parks and green spaces, providing food, shelter, and shade. They filter stormwater runoff and clean our air. They add beauty and benefits for generations to come. And while they’re just one component of our work, they’re an important one, which is why we’ve been focusing on trees with our blog this year. As we look back on 2024, through our tree-focused lens — there’s a lot to celebrate.

Tree planting

There are two primary planting windows that set trees up for success, and this year we took advantage of both. Late winter or early spring when trees are still dormant, or just barely breaking dormancy, is a great time to plant to allow trees to get several weeks of establishment before the heat of summer hits our area. This spring, we hosted tree planting events at both Dorey Park and Deep Run Park in Henrico County.

Similarly, trees planted in the fall have multiple seasons to get established and grow roots in advance of extreme summer temperatures. This fall, we hosted and assisted with multiple tree planting events throughout the region including at Eastern Henrico Recreation Center, Armour House & Gardens at Meadowview Park, Canoe Run, and Dock Street. We’re thankful to have had the cooperation of staff from Henrico County Parks, the Virginia Department of Forestry, and James River Park System to help lead some of these large-scale planting days, and partnership from Keep Virginia Beautiful, Richmond Department of Parks and Recreation, and CoStar Group.

In addition, we replaced several amelanchier trees at the Low Line Gardens because they were showing signs that they were failing to thrive in the space. We opted to replace them with Chionanthus virginiana (Fringe Trees), which have proven to be a better fit in our urban green spaces. With help from Republic Services, we also installed the first batch of trees at our in-progress project in Richmond’s northside, Hotchkiss Green.

Tree maintenance

This isn’t our first year planting trees, so part of our work this year was maintaining trees planted already, particularly those planted in fall of 2023. We revisited recently planted trees to weed around their base and add a layer of mulch. Mulch helps to discourage competition from weeds, keeps the soil cool and moist, and improves the soil quality near the tree roots over time. This fall, at Canoe Run Park, volunteers expanded the mulch rings around the 50 trees we planted last fall. This effort will help promote the health of the trees as they get established, and hopefully set them up for long-term success.

Tree pruning

Thanks to the City of Richmond’s new Urban Forester, Michael Webb, our regular maintenance volunteers benefited from a hands-on tree care workshop in the late spring. The lesson focused on promoting tree health and proper pruning, which empowered our volunteers with knowledge that will make them well-equipped to help continue caring for the trees in our spaces. In some cases, we also leaned on expertise from professional arborists, for limbing larger trees and pruning their roots in advance of trail maintenance.

Tree giveaways

In the fall, Reforest Richmond hosted Richmond Tree Week, which involved 40 tree-centric events throughout Richmond, Virginia. As we have in years past, we helped support this initiative. We offered tours at both the Low Line and the in-the-works Hotchkiss Green. We also managed two tree giveaway stations to send Richmond residents home with native trees for planting in their yards. We provided folks with expert tips from our team on planting best-practices to ensure proper establishment and success.

We’ve planted hundreds of trees in and around Richmond, Virginia since we got our start nearly 15 years ago, but we’re not done yet. We planted 90 trees just this year, and have set the goal of planting more than 100 trees next year in 2025. We hope you’ll join in through volunteering, or supporting our work.

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December — Featured Trees Seasonal Update

This year we’ll be documenting the same two trees as they progress out of dormancy, bud out in the spring, are full of foliage in the summer, and lose their leaves in the fall. Follow along for monthly updates on the River Birch and Eastern White Redbud along the Low Line Gardens in Richmond, Virginia.

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December — Urban Green Space Maintenance

Despite the rainy weather in December, we completed quite a few tasks in the gardens.

We devoted one of our Wednesday maintenance mornings to tidying up the Low Line Green. We had a number of first time volunteers on deck, who worked alongside our “regulars” to make quick work of the job.

In last month’s blog, we explained that the replacement of the remaining six amelanchiers in the Low Line Gardens was underway. Now, that work has been completed and our volunteers have begun replanting the beds around the trees. Mark your calendars to visit the gardens in late April to enjoy the beautiful flowers on the new fringe trees.

Left: Yarrow, Right: Ironweed

Over the last several years we have slowly been refurbishing the gardens in Great Shiplock Park. This month alone, our volunteers added 165 plugs to the space — 150 Achillea millefolium (Yarrow) and 15 Vernonia noveboracensis (Ironweed). We also replaced one of the birch trees in the median that had died. In addition, we transplanted plants from other areas to fill in open spaces in the garden beds. Plants do arrange themselves, but not always in the manner we would choose.

Staff and several of our regular maintenance volunteers worked alongside many community volunteers to assist in planting trees at Dock Street Park.  The project was led by the City of Richmond Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities staff including James River Park System staff.

As the Holidays approach, many of us prepare to hunker down for the next few months, but nature is already preparing for the next chapter.

“As winter solstice approaches a new cycle of life for the Sun begins – bringing a new year of life & growth with it. With the birth of the Sun a new year begins. It’s the beginning of a new cycle of birth, growth, death in Nature; a whole new year of life, experiences & transformation. It’s a new chapter. Which makes this a really hopeful & exciting time. Anything is possible in the year that lies ahead. Anything can grow … It’s a time of pure potential.” source: The Seasonal Soul 

Happy New Year!

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December Spotted at: Great Shiplock Park

We’re all in for a treat in the spring thanks to the Virginia Daffodil Society’s two-year effort to install 1200 bulbs of historic daffodil varieties at Great Shiplock Park. This fall, we “spotted” VDS planting several different historic cultivars (Ornatus, Emperor, Empress, Sir Watkins, and Conspicuus) all of which were registered between 1850-1880 when the lock system was active in Richmond. The spring blooming daffodils will honor the area’s past, and will bloom for many years in the future. Thank you to all of the volunteers who spent time planting daffodils over the past two years, and to those who donated the bulbs themselves.