New Tree in Minneapolis  Lee Frelich
  October 07, 2007

TOPIC: New tree in Minneapolis
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/0a0f1c0dcf79c622?hl=en 
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Sun, Oct 7 2007 9:43 am
From: Lee Frelich

ENTS:

Yesterday we had a 5 hour celebration of the 10th Anniversary of Friends of
Loring Park (FoLP) in Minneapolis (of which I am president). When we set
the date for the event several months ago we thought it probably snow, but
instead we had a record breaking tropical heat wave, with a high of 87 and
dewpoints nearing 70 degrees--typical for July but remarkable for October.

http://www.friendsofloringpark.org/ 

FoLP has won many city, state and national awards for bringing gardens to
the city, restoring native vegetation and water quality of the park's pond,
restoration of the urban forest canopy by planting 200 trees, and improving
the level of care for the existing older trees in the park. There are many
historic trees in the park, including 300 year old bur oaks, elms and other
species planted by the founders of Minneapolis, various world-famous
landscape architects, presidents of foreign countries, and during
International Arborist Association meetings.

One of many highlights of the party was a ceremonial planting of a new oak
tree via 84 inch tree spade. An interview with the new tree went as follows:

Who are you and what are your measurements?
I am Quercus bicolor, aka swamp white oak. I am 5 inches dbh and 15 feet tall.

Where did you come from and why did you move to Minneapolis?
I was grown in a nursery in Faribault, MN and transported here by Green
Acres Tree Moving. I came to Minneapolis because I was donated to Loring
Park by the McClure family in memory of their father Robert McClure and to
be planted in a ceremony commemorating the 10th Anniversary of FoLP. I am
also the replacement for a large green ash that died during a derecho
earlier this summer.

What do you think of your new location and what are your plans?
This location at the edge of the pond in downtown Minneapolis is very
prominent. Many people will take pictures of me every day. Unlike green
ash, my species is resistant to derecho damage, so I should be able to
persist here for 300 years or more and eventually attain a cbh of 15-20
feet with large horizontal branches extending out over the water.

Lee


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TOPIC: New tree in Minneapolis
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/0a0f1c0dcf79c622?hl=en
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Date: Sun, Oct 14 2007 3:35 pm
From: Randy Brown


Reminds me of a cottonwood tree my Uncle had growing by a pond when I
was growing up. When my Uncle bought the property he had the low
spot in the woods cleared out and dug a pond. This left a 'slot'
through the canopy trending from southeast to northwest with three
40-50' swamp white oaks growing in the exposed corner. A cottonwood
sprouted on the edge of the pond and happy exceeded the height and
equaled the diameter (saw 16-18" dbh) of the oaks in roughly 30
years. Then along came a derecho and snapped the cottonwood in half,
dumping the crown into the pond. My uncle removed the cottonwood but
the Oaks remained unfazed.... Until 2 years ago when a lightening
strike torched half the crown of the biggest one.

Rand