What did Casey Trees do last year for PARK(ing) Day?
Casey Trees will be participating (for the second year in a row) in the PARK(ing) Day movement, and wanted to give you a little insight into our interest in the event. We wanted to answer a few of the questions we knew you were sure to have about it – and since it’s so close (tomorrow!) we figured we’d review our efforts last year.. and our plans to go bigger and better this year!
Last year, we took up two parking spaces (320 square feet) at the intersection of New Hampshire Avenue and Q Street NW, filling the space with an abstract forest open to the public. We made our trees by attempting to re-purpose as many materials from our own garages and workshops as we could. The leaves on each tree were hand-cut by our staff from old “Ooze Tubes” that were beyond repair – we used leftover scraps of burlap for the texture of the bark, and old pieces of wood from pallets and other odds and ends for the tree trunks. Oversized tags were attached to each tree, touting the financial and environmental value trees bring to D.C. residents. We laid down mulch, in order to properly “plant” our trees, and we lined our space with red bricks. Check out a past photo-blog to get some visuals, and refer to the site plan drawn up by our Urban Forestry Manager, Sara Turner, above.
We’re proud of last year’s space, but this year we wanted to go bigger.. so we chose a three-space-site at the corner of 12th & G Streets NW (near the Metro Center and Macy’s). We decided no more hand-made trees, we were going to use REAL trees; so we contacted the Casey Tree Farm about using some 1 1/2″-2″ bare-roots trees. We’ll be garnishing our space with flowers, plants, and shrubbery from our friends at Old City Green, and there will be re-purposed stumps to use as chairs. We’ll have a picnic table for lunch-goers to sit and enjoy their meal, and a bench made from re-purposed wood, handcrafted by Mike Ferguson, one of our Urban Forestry Crew chiefs. In case anyone feels spirited or inspired by the space, we’ll have corn-hole to help you get rid of all that excess energy (before you head back to your desk). And if you get thirsty? We’ll have a lemonade stand on hand to catch the last breeze of summer before the fall blows in.
Remember, the idea is (of course) to espouse the importance of trees – their participation in the urban environment is the only way we can solve some of our latest issues and restore the balance to the natural and concrete jungles. But tomorrow is also about public/green space in general, inspiring conversation and sparking innovation to remind people that just because concrete is there now, doesn’t mean it has to be there tomorrow.
Check out the design our Tree Planting & Planning and Design departments put together above to get a visual sense of what we’ve got in store for tomorrow. Be sure to stop by – we’ll be open from 8 am to 5 pm and can’t wait to get a chance to meet you. Bring your lunch, your co-workers, your children; all are welcome to play in our PARK(ing) Day park!
For more information about PARK(ing) Day and why public/green space is so important, check out the other two posts in our PARK(ing) Day series. Follow along on our Facebook and Twitter accounts tomorrow for live postings on the happenings of the day!
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