The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Coulby Park gets 2 new oak trees for Arbor Day
Someone once said that the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, and that the second-best time is now.
Thanks to its involvement with the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree City USA program, Wickliffe’s got both bases covered.
“We’re celebrating our 37th year as a Tree City USA,” said Keep Wickliffe Beautiful Program Director Patty Fowler April 27 at the city’s Coulby Park, where dozens of folks gathered to celebrate Arbor Day and help give back to nature by planting two young pin oak trees by the park’s swimming pool.
She said, thanks to donors including Parker Hannifin, the Wickliffe Rotary Club and North Coast Lions Club, the city selected and was able to plant the two oaks, which were selected specifically because they’ll do well at the park.
“They’re site-specific,” Fowler said. “We chose them because they’ll thrive in this type of soil with its moisture content and nutrients.”
She said they’ll also grow up to be fine shade providers.
“We chose these because they grow up to be nice, tall trees and they’ll provide some nice shade over here by the pavilion area,” Fowler said.
During his presentation and after, Wickliffe Mayor William Margalis talked about the importance of planting trees, replacing those that have been cut down and helping to instill the right attitudes in young people about environmental stewardship.
“I think it’s good to see so many young people involved in our environment,” he said as he finished up his hot-dog lunch the city provided
following the ceremony, thanks to a donation from BJ’s Wholesale Club. “It’s good just to see them taking part in appreciating the importance of trees and greenery.”
A number of area gradeschoolers were on hand to accept awards they won in the city’s annual Arbor Day Poster Contest, which Margalis said is always a positive thing.
“It’s so good to see our schools getting the kids involved with the poster contest,” he said. “The awareness part of education — teaching kids about the importance of trees and greenery in our environment — is one of the most important building blocks in educating our youth and getting them involved in the environment.”
Some in attendance were getting an even earlier start appreciating their roles in helping our environment, as a group from Beautiful Kids Academy, right next door to Coulby Park, were invited to this year’s Arbor Day observance.
“This is our first year to this. But we come here to the park all the time — especially in the summer because we have summer
camp and the kids just love to come over here,” said Keshawna Deaver, a toddler teacher at the preschool, who added how much she enjoyed the event. “It’s great. I thought it was really nice. And it’s great for the environment.”
She also said she appreciated the fact that the city gave attendees their choice of taking home a white pine or bayberry sapling to plant on their own.
“I thought that was really nice that they had those tree varieties for people to choose from to take with them,” she said.
Another benefit Deaver and the preschool’s director, Trudy Kilpatrick, said the children’s parents would be sure to enjoy later would be the fact they skipped nap time to attend the Arbor Day Event.
“Oh, yeah — their parents are going to be happy tonight because they’re all going to go right to bed,” Kilpatrick said, adding how much she and the rest of the preschool staff appreciated Wickliffe inviting them to the Arbor Day ceremony.
“This was such a good experience for them,” Kilpatrick said. “And they behaved!”