Education Volunteers prune D.C.’s famous cherry trees By Stephanie Juchs, Community Education Coordinator, Casey Trees | Each spring, more than 1.5 million people visit Washington, D.C. to admire the blossoms of cherry trees along the Tidal Basin, Washington Monument grounds, Hains Point, and East and West Potomac Park. The trees require more than just structural pruning to keep them photo ready. That’s where Casey Trees came in. Cherry trees are prone to producing suckers, shoot that grows from a bud at the base of a tree or directly from its roots, and epicormic shoots, sprouts that emerge from dormant buds along the trunk or branch of a tree. These suckers and shoots divert available energy and resources away from the tree’s canopy.
While members of the National Mall and Memorial Parks tree crew structurally prune the trees from January to early March each year, the National Park Service (NPS) relies on volunteer groups to prune the constant flush of suckers. This year Casey Trees was lucky enough to become one of the groups that got to help maintain the cherry trees. On three consecutive Saturdays in June, small groups of Casey Trees volunteers accompanied an NPS employee around the Tidal Basin and Hains Point to prune the suckers and shoots. Because this was our first chance to work with such important and historic trees, only recent participants of our Trees 101, Trees 201 and pruning workshops and events were invited to participate in this special opportunity. Without the pink and white blossoms attracting crowds of people, volunteers were able to prune in solitude, taking in the beauty of the trees and focusing on filling buckets and tarps with the suckers and shoots. Over the three weekends, volunteers pruned more than 100 trees in the Tidal Basin and covering almost two miles of ground on Hains Point. After such successful and rewarding events, plans are already in the works for another round of pruning events in the fall. As volunteer Mikel Witte said, “we’ll get those little suckers!”
Volunteers spent nine hours over a three-day span to prune hundreds of historic cherry trees along the Tidal Basin and Hains Point in June.
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Consider signing up for our Trees 101 and Trees 201 courses in the fall or a Pruning Workshop in
July 2013 | theleaflet