Getting a tree for your yard can be expensive. But now Seattle is offering a chance at free trees for your yard or the planting strip in front of your house. Not only do you get the tree, but you also will receive training on tree planting and care, free water bags and mulch, and follow-up care reminders.
The City of Seattle is offering the trees through a lottery, closing August 7. You may ask for up to three trees per property. To apply go to the Trees for Neighborhoods website to fill out the application and then wait to see if you are a lucky winner. (You will not increase your chances by getting your children to each put in an application. It is selected by address.)
You can request up to three different trees or three of one kind. The pictures show four of the 13 trees that are available.
You can read all about them and see more pictures from a link at the webpage. Be careful to note if you are planting in your yard, in the planting strip or under a power line. Different trees work best in different circumstances. If you are planting in your yard you can plant the very tall trees. The City says you improve your chances in the lottery by requesting one of the taller trees.
Winners will need to attend a workshop in September (four possible dates but the most
convenient to Wallingford will be September 23 at Meadowbrook Community Center) before the trees are delivered to your home. If you are planting in the planting strip it is necessary to get a permit, but the City will do most of that for you. If a tree in your planting strip has died or become an unruly nuisance and you want to replace it, you must put that in the note space at the bottom of the application. If you need help getting the tree planted, the City will try to find volunteer helpers.
An alternative if you don’t win the lottery is buying trees from a local nursery. Some neighbors in Wallingford got together to plant a row of the same trees along their street front, as you can see in the picture. Once those trees are mature, it is going to be magnificent! Marilyn, who helped get the four neighbors organized, said the ginkgoes they planted cost them about $130 each. With everyone pitching in, preparing the planting holes and getting the trees in place was more a block party than a chore. (In some places in the neighborhood the hard pan can be a foot or so below the surface. If that happens to you, be prepared to swing a mean pick axe to break through – or go rent an electric jack hammer.)
Don’t neglect extra care for the newly planted trees. On these hot summer days they need plenty of water. Here is a picture of two trees that were required to be planted as a part of a townhouse development that have been forgotten by the developer and all six families in the development. They desperately need water. You can see the green tree at the next property beyond where the developer has kept his promises and is maintaining the required street tree.
The easiest way to keep watering the tree is with a watering bag, like the one shown in the picture. (This chestnut tree was put into the ground by a group of Wallingford neighbors two years ago) It will need to be refilled at least once a week. After about four years the roots will spread out and you’ll need to remove it and water farther from the base.
After taking away the watering bag, be careful not to get too close to the tree with a fishing line-style grass trimmer. You can whack the base of the tree and severely damage the outer layers of the bark and the water transport layer just under the bark. Last year we showed a picture of a required street tree that was being whacked to death by a lawn care team. It has since died and is now just a stump after the owner removed it. It is best to pull back the lawn about a foot or so from the base of the tree and surround it with mulch.