PROJECTARBOR DAY CELEBRATION 2017
The Village Arbor Day celebration for 2017 saw citizens young and old band together to decorate the village, plant a tree and celebrate all that trees give back to us! Special tree-inspired poetry was composed by young girl scouts from Junior Troop 1405 and these and other poems by famous elder poets were hung from trees throughout the village, adding whimsy to the day. Wolf Scouts from Cub Scout Pack 137 decorating village sidewalks with blue spray-chalk decals stating our mutual love for our village trees. Mayor Dave Merandy read the village's Arbor Day proclamation and members of the boy and girl scouts joined the Tree Advisory Board and members of the Village Board of Trustees to spread mulch and celebrate. Festive streamers decorated each tree pit on Main Street along with a selection of inspiring quotations about trees. The Tree Advisory Board passed out free informational brochure containing facts of interest about the new tree planting and highlighting interesting parts of Cold Spring's street tree inventory. A new street tree was planted on High Street and a ceremonial planting was held where Tree Advisory Board Chairperson Jennifer Zwarich thanked all the volunteers for giving back to the village and Mayor Dave Merandy and members of the Village Board of Trustees welcomed the crowd and the mayor read the poem "The Sound of Trees" by Robert Frost. The new tree, a green hawthorn, Crataegus viridis, is a round almost thornless tree with exfoliating bark that is native to the southeastern United States. It typically grows 20-35’ with a wide crown full of glossy dark-green serrate leaves that turn purple and red in the fall. Corymbs of lovely, fragrant white flowers bloom in May and are follwed by small red fruits that ripen in September and provide bright color and food for birds during the dormant season. Some people harvest the fruit to make jam. The genus name is derived from the Greek kratos, meaning strength, referring to its strong hard wood. This tree replaces a young Pyrus calleryana that was removed during post fire loss re-construction of the house at 15 High Street. Thank you to Anne Impellizzeri for donating the tree and local landscape business Habitat Revival for the donation of mulch for this planting. Thanks also to Cub Scout Pack 137 Wolf and Tiger Dens, Girl Scout Troop 2013, Girl Scout Junior Troop 1405 and Pam Gunther for donation of time and funds to decorate the village and trees. On this Arbor Day in the Village of Cold Spring, 9 other trees were planted aound Main Street in addition to this new High Street Tree. That work was one of the final pieces of the Main Street Sidewalk project. Hooray! If you or your business would like to donate a tree or volunteer to help on public tree projects, please contact the village clerk at (845) 265-3611 or [email protected]. |
The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now. |