Seeking Volunteers for Downtown Tree Planting
Ken C
This Hope street tree was toppled by a delivery truck in May.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Want to help do a little Downtown greening? The Downtown Center BID is seeking volunteers for an October 3 tree planting sponsored by Ralphs. The trees, provided by the City's Million Trees initiative, will be planted around the Financial District.
We've written previously about the trouble of Downtown tree wells, which can often sit empty for years after a tree gets taken out by high winds or an accident.
Those interested in participating should email DCBID's Hal Bastian at hbastian@downtownla.com. An invite asks attendees to bring gardening glove, sunblock and a hat, and to not wear open-toed shoes.
nectarine on September 17, 2009, at 09:54PM – #1
I was involved in a tree planting project in my downtown neighborhood. In cooperation with the organization TreePeople, we planted 20 trees. Two years later, they are all still living. The key is getting people to commit to water them. TreePeople said trees require a 5 year commitment to watering.
I am of course delighted to read of more trees downtown, but hope there are people signed on to water them.
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on September 17, 2009, at 10:14PM – #2
DCBID has committed to the trees' maintenance. You're so right about the importance of that: for several years there were trees on Grand Avenue that had been put in but not given the proper attention. They all died.
Ginny-Marie Case on September 17, 2009, at 10:27PM – #3
Alex and I thought the Rotary Club of Los Angeles Morning...working with the Sustainability Committee...we have a whole list of areas that need trees, including some spaces in the Financial District. I'll have Alex send that list over to you asap.
Angeleno on September 17, 2009, at 11:14PM – #4
Good for everyone involved with this! It's the kind of very specific, very focused effort to improve or maintain the community that should never be taken for granted or, worse of all, disregarded or discounted. Even more so since too many sections throughout downtown over the years have been prime examples of neglect, inattentiveness and laziness.
Jasmijn on October 03, 2009, at 08:10PM – #5
We were part of the group that turned out for this, and it went very well. It was a lot of fun: spirits were high, and everyone was willing to work hard, all but wrestling tools out of each others' hands to get a chance to dig! Some of the tree wells turned out to have hidden problems (like a huge chunk of concrete anchoring the sawed-off end of a buried street sign) but most seem to have gone very well, from what our group saw. The trees were mainly matched to what was already on that street (Grand now has baby Canary Island Pines between the mature ones, for example). I'm sure there will be stories posted about this as separate items, but I wanted to say already what fun it was!
There will be another planting on Oct 24th on Alameda, I hear, and later in South LA as well. Ralph's has donated 100 trees to be planted downtown, and today's lot were only 25, so there's a lot more to be done! Come and be a part of leaving a positive mark on Downtown's future! :)
A big "thank you" to Ralph's and the DCBID for making this happen.
Robert on October 15, 2009, at 04:15PM – #6
The new trees look great. Nice to see some greenery in front of the old Embassy Hotel on Grand. I was walking down Hill Street and noticed across from St. Vincent's Court there were a half a dozen empty containers sitting on the street. There are some unhealthy looking trees on the east side of Hill planted in the containers but none on the west side. It would be nice to see the BID plant some flowers or trees in those containers. Keep up the great work. 100 trees on the streets downtown will really make a difference.
jenny_floz1 on April 16, 2012, at 11:35PM – #7
Man, trees are very important in the beauty of Los Angeles. It brings a lighter side to a buzzing city like LA. I hope a lot of volunteers will step up and plant trees. - Paul Perito