New Elm Trees
I swore I wouldn't do it, but then I did. I volunteered to join the Grounds Committee of our homeowner's association.
This is a large development -- 466 homes with 30 tree lined streets, miles of paved walking trails to maintain, and fencing, irrigation and gravel features that need attention. There's a community park to look after. Then there was flood damage to the landscape this summer to deal with.
There is a professional landscape company that does the actual grounds maintenance labor, and has to be overseen. There is a professional management company to coordinate with. And then there's the town.
In a fluid set of partnerships, the town of Santa Fe owns and maintains portions of the grounds, the homeowner's association owns and maintains others, and it's a seesaw of confusing responsibilities that keeps things from getting done.
Much of the Grounds Committee's work is overseeing tedious maintenance: weeding, repairing, replacing, fixing, and . . . . taking down dead trees. That's a thing for our association; trees die here.
All of the purple plums are now at the end of their short lifespans -- they live about 20 years and were planted 18 years ago when the development was first built. They are still pretty in bloom, briefly in early spring, but most are now declining and they were never tall enough to be good street trees anyway.
But part of being on the Grounds Committee is --- I get to help plant new trees! The budget allowed for six dying trees to be replaced -- not all, but at least six. And not in the original locations, but only where there is sidewalk irrigation.
The narrow strips of gravel where the street trees can be installed are inhospitable, even with irrigation. The trees have to be tall shade trees, with enough clearance for the sidewalks below. Choices for any trees in this climate are so limited, and purple plums were never the answer. There aren't many appropriate possibilities for replacement.
'Frontier' hybrid elms have been recommended, and that's what's going in this fall. They have good tolerance to hot, dry conditions, and they get tall. Not great looking trees, not the best thing that could be planted, but a reasonable replacement for the unsuitable purple plums and honeylocusts we have now.
One of my jobs on the committee is to help decide where the 'Frontier' elms will go. This might be fun.
I do like planting trees. You know that.
This is a large development -- 466 homes with 30 tree lined streets, miles of paved walking trails to maintain, and fencing, irrigation and gravel features that need attention. There's a community park to look after. Then there was flood damage to the landscape this summer to deal with.
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| Original Nava Ade plot plan, tightly clustered homes with lots of walking trails and open space weaving around |
There is a professional landscape company that does the actual grounds maintenance labor, and has to be overseen. There is a professional management company to coordinate with. And then there's the town.
In a fluid set of partnerships, the town of Santa Fe owns and maintains portions of the grounds, the homeowner's association owns and maintains others, and it's a seesaw of confusing responsibilities that keeps things from getting done.
(Side observation: One of the benefits that attracted us to Santa Fe was incredibly low property taxes. One of the things you get for low property taxes is an understaffed town infrastructure. There isn't anyone to do what needs doing, especially if it's cosmetic landscape upkeep outside the tourist center.)I'm impressed so far with the committee members -- four other volunteers, all my age and cohort, who have been doing this for a while. At my first meeting I discovered that one came from the same town in Connecticut we just moved from. His wife, now deceased, worked at the same company I did back in the 1990s. I knew her, although not well.
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| Our community park is partly maintained by the town and partly by our association. It's complicated. |
Much of the Grounds Committee's work is overseeing tedious maintenance: weeding, repairing, replacing, fixing, and . . . . taking down dead trees. That's a thing for our association; trees die here.
All of the purple plums are now at the end of their short lifespans -- they live about 20 years and were planted 18 years ago when the development was first built. They are still pretty in bloom, briefly in early spring, but most are now declining and they were never tall enough to be good street trees anyway.
 |
| So many purple plums, so wrong for sidewalk shade trees |
But part of being on the Grounds Committee is --- I get to help plant new trees! The budget allowed for six dying trees to be replaced -- not all, but at least six. And not in the original locations, but only where there is sidewalk irrigation.
The narrow strips of gravel where the street trees can be installed are inhospitable, even with irrigation. The trees have to be tall shade trees, with enough clearance for the sidewalks below. Choices for any trees in this climate are so limited, and purple plums were never the answer. There aren't many appropriate possibilities for replacement.
'Frontier' hybrid elms have been recommended, and that's what's going in this fall. They have good tolerance to hot, dry conditions, and they get tall. Not great looking trees, not the best thing that could be planted, but a reasonable replacement for the unsuitable purple plums and honeylocusts we have now.
 |
| 'Frontier' elm Shaggy, unshapely, not very attractive, but they are tough trees. |
One of my jobs on the committee is to help decide where the 'Frontier' elms will go. This might be fun.
I do like planting trees. You know that.
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