We Received a Gift of Trees

We Received a Gift of Trees

by Blanka Guyatt, member of the Watershed Trust Board and Watershed Action Group

Two years ago, my cousin David Braun sent ten certificates for nine-foot tall red maple trees and sugar maple trees to the Blue Mountain Watershed Trust. He was impressed by the Watershed Trust’s accomplishments and wanted to make an environmental contribution by donating trees to our area. I did not realize then how big and heavy the trees would be and how complicated the transportation from Ancaster would be but eventually, I got the help I needed.

The Blue Mountain Watershed Maple Trees newly planted at Bayview park in ThornburyIt took me a whole year to find a home for these trees but what a home it is. The Town of the Blue Mountains Parks and Recreation department picked up the trees at my house in the Blue Mountains when they arrived from Southern Ontario, courtesy of Braun Nursery, on the long weekend of July 2016. They dropped off two trees that were spoken for by the Collingwood Chamber of Commerce to be planted in Collingwood and planted the eight remaining trees in the semicircle by the tennis courts at Bayview Park in Thornbury. The crew did a perfect job planting and watering the trees and they easily survived the heat wave of last summer. All trees took to their new home instantly and all of them came back in good health in the spring. Check out their 2017 size in the park for yourself. In a few years the trees will form a majestic maple allée and provide welcome shade in the park, a roost for birds and year-round beauty.

There is something comforting planting trees and watching them grow. Thank you, Braun’s Nursery, for this great gift.