The trees have landed. Our Earth Day event went swimmingly well. What I mean is that those of us who came were literally swimming as we planted. There was a spring deluge exactly during the hours of our event. So, we really want to thank all those who came out. We met tree lovers from Novi, Madison Heights, Northville, and around our beloved Detroit. It was really cool that people came from far away to support a project that seems so local.
The mud was fierce and slippery and everywhere. Since the trees we planted were so large we had to use the bobcat to lower them into the holes. We had actually already used the bobcat to fork out large holes because the clay was so hard and dense. This allowed us to fill the huge hole with compost and topsoil so that the tree can grow in something more than straight clay.
It was a blast to go out to the nursery and select the trees. What we ended up with was a beautiful mix of trees that were just about 200% over budget. But isn’t it all about the trees? We chose to plant these in trios instead of single specimens. We want their forms and the feel to be amplified as visitors walk among them. We are working toward our goal of creating actual stands of like trees. When we can afford to we will plant them in dozens to give the feel of really being in a grove of, say, Ginkgos, or Birches. We planted three each of Princeton Sentry Ginkgo, Redpoint Red Maple, Paper Birch, Cedar, and Yew. We also planted some understory trees that will add spring excitement. We planted two Kousa Dogwood and two Forest Pansy Redbuds. Oh, and last but not least, on the hill we planted a single Weeping Beech. Did I mention that we imported one-hundred cubic yards of soil to create a hill that sweeps through the middle of the Arb? As a compliment to the living trees we planted 15 boulders. These act as graceful seats and reminders of geologic time. This really brings the earth element into the Arb and deepens the reflection on life in these three time zones: fleeting human time, prolonged tree time, and incomprehensible rock time. The boulders were unearthed from farm fields in the middle of the state. They are making their first local appearance in thousands of years. They were scoured from north of the Great Lakes by glaciers and deposited down here and have likely not seen the light of day since the glaciers receded over 10,000 years ago. May they stand in the sun for the next couple hundred years as the trees grow up in the Arb.
It took three more days to get them all in, but we did it with a core group meeting in the evenings. On Mothers Day Paul and I did the final ground prep and seeded Dutch White Clover. Since then we have made a great friend in the US Fish and Wildlife Service. They are partnering with us to plant 46 varieties of native plants that will benefit the local bees and birds. We seeded about 75% of the Arb with the seed mix they donated.
