Tag Archives: trees

Crown Hill Tree Walk, Sept 11, 2010

September 8, 2010 dennis

Ever wonder about some of those trees that are neighborhood landmarks, or have unusual foliage, beautiful flowers?Â Come join your neighbors for a walking tour of some of the special trees that grace Crown Hill’s private yards and public spaces. You’ll see remnants of an old orchard sprawled across what are now multiple single family lots, trees that rank among Seattle’s largest for their species, including a few recorded nowhere else in the City, and many other significant neighborhood trees.Â Arthur Lee Jacobson, author of Trees of Seattle and Wild Plants of Greater Seattle, and a renowned local expert will lead our walking tour of some of the interesting trees in Crown Hill.

The walk begins at 9 AM, on Saturday, September 11th, 2010. We’ll gather at the large oak tree at the corner of 13th Ave NW and NW 95th street by the Crown Hill Center (formerly Crown Hill Elementary School).Â The walk will be about 90 minutes long, and will be conducted at a leisurely, family-friendly pace to allow all to participate. Please wear comfortable walking shoes.

Continue reading Crown Hill Tree Walk, Sept 11, 2010 →

Sustainability

Trees for Seattle Neighborhoods

July 28, 2010 dennis

Here’s an opportunity to get some free trees from the city of Seattle. The city Department of Neighborhoods (DON) administers the Tree Fund to enhance the urban forest. Since 1972 the city estimates that Seattle’s urban forest tree cover has decreased from 40% to 22%. Trees play an important part in holding back stormwater surges, reducing erosion, retaining carbon, absorption of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and improving the aesthetic qualities of the urban environment. And we’ve lost some very large and some very old trees in Crown Hill in the last several years.

The DON Tree Fund has planted more than 20,000 trees in 15 years. This year’s program requires a group of neighbors living on a block or street get together and agree to plant between 10 to 40 trees. Each participating house can then choose a fruit tree.

Full details are available at the tree fund web site. Applications are due by August 16th, 2010.

Sustainability, Volunteers

Summer Tree Fruit Tree Pruning Class

July 1, 2010 dennis

“City Fruit works neighborhood by neighborhood to help residential tree owners grow healthy fruit, to harvest and use what they can, and to share what they donâ€™t need. City Fruit collaborates with others involved in local food production, climate protection, horticulture, food security and community-building to protect and optimize urban fruit trees.” They have developed a mapping application to show the location of fruit trees within Seattle. If you would like to add your fruit trees to the map, or become a member of City Fruit, or volunteer to help, please visit their web site at http://cityfruit.org

City Fruit will be hosting two Summer Fruit Tree pruning classes in Seattle this summer. These are hands on classes taught by some of the most experienced teachers in the area. To register: click on the link of the class you want to attend (These link to the class registration atÂ Brown Paper Tickets). You can also send a check, with the name of the class and your contact information to City Fruit, PO Box 28577, Seattle 98118.Â Â Cost is $15 for City Fruit members, $20 for non-members.Â After registering, you will receive confirmation and the address of the class.Â Â If you can’t afford a class but really want to learn, email us at info@cityfruit.org.

July 17Â Summer Pruning, North Seattle. 10:30 Â am â€“ noon.Â Summer pruning discourages excessive new growth and â€œcan be used to slow down overly vigorous trees or trees that are too largeâ€ (P. Vossen).Â Â It is most effective between June and late September.Â Learn the proper techniques at this workshop located in a heritage urban orchard.Â Â Â Ingela Wanerstrand is the owner of Green Darner Garden Design, specializing in edible garden design and coaching.Â She has been pruning fruit trees professionally for 14 years and leads the urban agriculture guild of Sustainable Ballard.

Comments on Ingelaâ€™s last class: â€œI wish I had taken this class 10 years ago.Â It was the best two hours Iâ€™ve spent learning about pruning ever.â€

Continue reading Summer Tree Fruit Tree Pruning Class →

Parks & Greenspace, Sustainability

Tree Survey Question (still looking for responses)

May 19, 2010 dennis

In August 2009 we published a tree survey questionnaire here. We got quite a few responses, but we’re looking for more. Our grant proposal is currently being reviewed has been approved for funding by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. If approved, We will contract with an arborist to survey the neighborhood for trees, but Crown Hill is a large area to survey, and we can ensure the trees we think are significant are looked at by the arborist by identifying as many as possible ahead of time. We’ll be sponsoring a neighborhood walk in September 2010, and publishing a push-pin type map (similar to the one below) showing the trees.Â Please take a look around and submit trees you think are significant whether they are in your yard, a neighbors yard, a public space. UPDATE (May 2010): Our grant proposal was approved for funding by the DON. The questionnaire is still open, so take a look at the updated map below and submit more trees. Thanks

View Crown Hill Tree Map in a larger map

To see the map larger and with a descriptive legend, click here.

Continue reading Tree Survey Question (still looking for responses) →

Land Use/Zoning, Parks & Greenspace, Special Events, Transportation

Holman/15th Median Study Review

December 8, 2009 dennis 3 Comments

Thanks to everyone who filled out a survey questionnaire to help gauge community and business support for a vegetated median along portions of 15th Ave NW (from 83rd St to 87th St) and Holman Road (from 87th St to 12th Ave).Â The Holman Road / 15th Ave corridor is a dominant feature in our community, and improvements to the corridor have the potential to make our neighborhood safer for both drivers and pedestrians, healthier for businesses, nicer looking and greener.

Holman / 15th Median Study Community Review Meeting
December 10, 2009 at 7:00pm, doors open at 6:30
Journey Church , 9204 11th Ave NW
Snacks provided

On Thursday, December 10 at 7:00pm the Crown Hill Neighborhood Association and the Crown Hill Business Association will host a community meeting to review designs for a series of planted medians for a section of the Holman Road / 15th Ave NW corridor.Â Produced by a team of students from the University of Washingtonâ€™s Community, Environment, and Planning Program, these designs reflect the responses from more than 290 Crown Hill residents through an online survey, as well as conversations with SDOT, Metro transit officials, and business owners along the corridor.

The student team will present a preliminary conceptual drawing (see draft below) and discuss several options for your comment.Â Feedback from this meeting will be used to produce their final design recommendations.