THE LEAFLET

Longtime urban tree partners, Trees For Georgetown, held its annual celebration on Wednesday, September 21 at Prospect House, and Casey Trees was there to delight in the festivities. Prospect House is known for its beautiful gardens that descend in a series of terraces, patterned with brick walks and English boxwood overlooking the Potomac River– a perfect setting to fete the topic of trees!

Trees for Georgetown is a volunteer group funded entirely by gifts and grants, whose purpose is to plant and maintain trees that line the residential streets of DC’s vibrant historic community. Working as a committee of Citizens Association of Georgetown since 1989, Trees for Georgetown has planted nearly 2,000 trees, contracted watering services during drought periods, and provided preventative maintenance for the neighborhood’s at-risk trees.

Because 22 newly planted trees were lost to inclement weather during the 2015/2016 season, Trees for Georgetown and Casey Trees dug and transplanted all trees in March 2016 to avoid repeating the loss of the previous year’s planting. Fifty-eight new trees were successfully planted in Georgetown during spring, 2016. Species planted include Hackberry, London Plane, Sweet Gum ‘Happidaze’ and ‘Worplesdon’, Carolina Silver Bell (Halesia), disease-resistant American Elm, Bald Cypress and Chinquapin, Overcup, Swamp White, Bur, and Willow Oaks.

Wrought iron fences were installed around each tree as required, and letters with tree care instructions were hand-delivered to homeowners who reside directly behind each new tree and to neighbors on each side.  A request to share watering, especially when one might be away was also included to help sustain the new trees. For further information about Trees for Georgetown, email Committee Chair, Betsy Emes at Betsyemes@aol.com or call the CAG office at 337-7313.