Arboreal Awakening By Ross Howell Jr

Arboreal Awakening

In a city of trees, spring heralds a rhapsody of foliage and hope

By Ross How ell JR. • P HotogR a PHs By M a R k wagoneR

W hen is the best time to plant a tree? Twent y years ago. W hen is the next best time? Now. — Chinese saying, in T he Overstor y, a novel by R ichard Powers

Lately on walk s with our rescue dog, Spr ink les, I’ve been think ing about the trees in Fisher Park, the neighborhood where my wife, Mar y L eigh, and I live.

Enor mous willow oak s, maples, big pecan trees and Souther n mag nolias line our streets and yards, shading dog woods, redbuds and crape myr tles. T hick beeches g uard the park ’s tr ibutar y of Buf falo Creek, and tall g ums scatter walk ways with their pr ick ly, annoying balls.

T he trees are serene and mag ical.

A nd old.

A qualit y I share with the trees. We’re approaching the end of our nat ural lives, becoming unsteady and expensive to maintain.

Being a 2-year- old dog, Spr ink les devotes no attention to the passage of time — the present moment suiting her just fine. She heeds the trees not at all unless a squir rel happens to scramble up one.

But in the 12 years Mar y L eigh and I have lived in Fisher Park, thunderstor ms have brought dow n enor mous willow oak s, one crashing on the proper t y ow ner’s car and splinter ing a neighbor’s redbud tree. Old age has claimed splendid white oak s. Disease has laid low big maples and dog woods. Ice stor ms have wreaked havoc, uprooting oak s, g ums, beeches, hemlock s and ash trees and shatter ing mag no lias in the park.

Circle of life, r ight? W hat can you do?

Tur ns out, a lot.

Sally Pagliai is the ow ner of St udio Pagliai L andscape and Garden Desig n in Greensboro. A native Califor nian, she holds a deg ree in landscape architect ure f rom Califor nia Poly technic State Universit y in San L uis Obispo.

Not long ago, she was hired for a project in the Montibello neighborhood, located of f Horse Pen Creek Road.

“W hile there were str ict r ules about landscaping, the homeow ners weren’t abiding by them — some had placed garden g nomes, whirlig igs or pink flamingos in f ront of their houses,” Pagliai says. T he homeow ners’ association brought her in to review the sit uation and to make recommendations for r ules that would improve neighborhood aesthetics.

It was a hot July day when Pagliai first visited Montibello. A s she drove in, she was impressed with how attractively the entrance was landscaped with trees and shr ubs.

“But once I got inside the development,” she says, “it was like a moonscape. T he landscape was bleached, scorched by the summer heat. T here was no canopy of trees.”

Pagliai k new what Montibello needed wasn’t another set of r ules. W hat it needed was a forest.

But how could she convince them?

“W hen I was g rowing up in Califor nia, we used to visit Car mel,” Pagliai says. “T here were all these f unk y little houses.” She explains that as the tow n g rew, homeow ners made the decision to preser ve the trees, even ones g rowing in the middle of some of the streets.

“Now the trees make the place unique, and those same f unk y little houses today are remark ably expensive,” Pagliai says.

She would make an economic arg ument to Montibello’s homeow ners, demonstrating how trees can increase home values, aug mented by infor mation about the value of trees environmentally.

Trees clean the air. T hey sig nificantly reduce summer temperat ures in urban areas and lower electr ical bills. T hey absorb r unof f f rom streets and sidewalk s, reducing flooding.

A nd they’re beautif ul.

“W hen you consider their majest y, their sculpt ural and text ural complexit y,” Pagliai says, “trees represent the ver y best of nat ure.”

Pagliai presented a comprehensive desig n plan that explained the economic and aesthetic benefits of planting hundreds of trees — everg reen and deciduous — that was reviewed by a neighborhood committee. T hey approved.

“Montibello ended up spending more than $10 0,0 0 0,” Pagliai says.

Trees were planted in stages at dif ferent times of year when various species enjoyed optimal chances of sur vival. The added benefit? The economic impact on individual homeowners was spread out over time.

Improvement in proper t y values and qualit y of life in the neighborhood has been profound.

A more recent Pagliai project also involved the planting of hundreds of trees.

“T he Healing Gardens at Cone Health Cancer Center are really the work of my hear t,” Pagliai says. “I lost both my father and a husband to cancer.”

W hen her father was being treated at the Stanford Cancer Instit ute in Califor nia, Pagliai could find solace outside the facilit y in a garden with trees.

“T hat was real salvation,” Pagliai says. “Trees are so life-g iving.”

But at the time Pagliai ’s husband, Stefano, was being treated at Cone Cancer Center, there was no garden at all.

“T he e ar t h nex t to t he f ac i l it y wa s bar ren a nd tox ic , w it h r a inwater flo o d ing f rom t he park ing gar age into Buf f a lo Cre ek ,” she says. Worse, t he are a wa s laden w it h t r a sh a nd c oncrete c onst r uct ion debr is.

“I’d b e in a ro om w it h my husba nd, who wa s just so sick ,” Pagl ia i c ont inues, “a nd t here wa s no plac e out side where I c ou ld fi nd a ny p e ac e.”

Volunteer ing her ow n time, Pagliai began sketching out plans for the Healing Gardens and f und-raising began.

T he first garden installation was a bar r ier of 234 trees planted along Wendover Avenue. T he trees muf fle traf fic sounds f rom the busy highway and provide a living g reen wall for the sanct uar y just beyond Buf falo Creek.

Within the Healing Gardens, volunteers have planted more than 350 additional trees, including native r iver birch (Betula nigra), bald cypress (Taxodium distichum), sweet bay mag nolia (Magnolia virg iniana), t upelo (Nyssa sylvatica), red maple (Acer rubrum) and a var iet y of wa x myr tles and cedars.

At the entrance to the gardens, Pagliai created a row of columnar English oak s (Quercus robur), compact trees that g row nar row and upr ight — excellent for tight spaces. Enter ing the garden, the oak s offer separation f rom the concrete park ing lots and sidewalk s.

“Trees are some of my best f r iends,” Pagliai concludes. “T hey’ve brought me peace. T hey br ing me joy.”

R andal Romie, president of Desig nat ure, L andscape Architects ASL A, is a resident of Sunset Hills.

“People forget that the 10 0 -year- old willow oak s falling over in

our neighborhood were once the woods that drew people here to build houses,” Romie says. He explains that with more roadways and sidewalk s and the increased number of houses, the oak s’ broad root systems no longer have access to the abundance of nutr ients available in nat ural woodlands.

“T hey’re not going to be 20 0 -year- old trees,” Romie says. “A nd when we lose them, we’re losing a sense of time.”

But Romie and other Sunset Hills residents now have money in their neighborhood association to buy new trees for homeow ners who want them and are willing to pay a small deposit to the f und. So far, the association has supplied residents with some 30 native trees.

Nor t h Carol ina nat ive t re es are a pa ssion for R om ie. For h im, t hey’re a n essent ia l element in a m i l lenn ia- old e c osystem of pla nt s a nd cre at ures a lways held in spir it ua l reverenc e by Nat ive A mer ic a n c u lt ures.

“We’re par t of nat ure,” Romie says. “W hen we connect with nat ure, we feel better. It’s like home.”

In Romie’s exper ience, people find neighborhoods with a canopy of trees more attractive than neighborhoods without them.

“A ll we’re doing is getting back to what Greensboro is famous for — neighborhoods like Fisher Park, Lindley Park, where there are trees in ever y yard,” Romie says. “T hey’re what make Greensboro g reen.”

Beyond his ef for ts in Sunset Hills, Romie has devoted some 30 years of volunteer work to Greensboro Beautif ul and has ser ved as co - chair of the urban forestr y committee. Urban forestr y is a relatively new concept, where trees are seen as cr itical elements of a healthy urban environment. In some Nor th Carolina cities, urban foresters plant and maintain trees, suppor t appropr iate tree selection and forest preser vation, and conduct research and education, promoting the benefits trees provide.

G re ensb oro B e aut if u l is a nonprofit orga n i zat ion supp or te d by pr ivate f unds f rom ind iv idua ls, c or p or at ions a nd foundat ions. It s budget a ssist s publ ic gardens l i ke t he G re ensb oro A rb oret um a nd supp or t s a var iet y of t re e -pla nt ing a nd e duc at ion prog r a ms, l i ke Neig hb orWo o ds. T hroug h t he park s a nd re cre at ion depar t ment , t he c it y of G re ensb oro prov ides f u l l-t ime st a f f, of fic e spac e a nd e qu ipment.

In this public-pr ivate par tnership, the cit y field operations depar t-

ment t ypically digs the holes for tree planting and the planning depar tment provides the exper tise of cit y arbor ist Judson Clinton to select proper var ieties and coordinate with public utilities.

“I may be the planning force behind a project,” says Clinton, who st udied forestr y, nat ural resources and silvicult ure at P urdue Universit y, “but Greensboro Beautif ul is really the dr iving force.”

Greensboro Beautif ul provides volunteers, supplies and plant mater ial, while master gardeners help with instr uction. A s many as 30 0 volunteers may show up for a planting prog ram — people f rom all walk s and stages of life.

Past special events include an Arbor Day celebration, when Greensboro Beautif ul organized more than 250 volunteers to plant 150 trees in the War nersville neighborhood, the oldest A f r ican A mer ican communit y in Greensboro.

A f ter a 2018 tor nado cut a path of destr uction through the K ings Forest neighborhood and its park, Greensboro Beautif ul awarded the area with a 2019 NeighborWoods communit y tree planting. Volunteers replanted trees throughout the neighborhood and park, supplying additional trees to proper t y ow ners who requested them.

In 2021 the Audubon Societ y teamed up with the NeighborWoods prog ram to plant 150 canopy and understor y trees in the Fr iendly Homes neighborhood and sur rounding park, and along the Benjamin Park way Greenway. Many ash trees in the area had been k illed by the emerald ash borer, and other canopy trees had suf fered dieback due to age and drought.

A new planting initiative was announced March 1, when the United Way of Greater Greensboro opened its centennial celebration by planting a tree at its Yancey ville Street headquar ters.

“We’ve par tnered with Greensboro Beautif ul and Greensboro Housing Author it y to plant 10 0 trees,” says Michael Cottingham, United Way’s vice president, marketing and communications. “In addition to our continued work to help people leave pover t y, we hope these trees will ser ve as a symbolic reminder of the lasting impact we create when we work together to help others.”

A nother f r iend of trees is Elizabeth Link, a manager in the planning depar tment of the cit y of Greensboro. A mong her responsibilities is administer ing tree planting reg ulations for new commercial and multifamily residential constr uction. She holds a landscape

architect ure deg ree f rom Nor th Carolina A&T State Universit y.

She’s also a 25 -year resident of Lindley Park.

“We’ve had many old willow oak s die or get k nocked dow n in stor ms,” Link says.

At her house t wo old oak trees came dow n, especially sig nificant because they shaded the house’s souther n exposure.

“Our summer electr ic bills went up,” Link says. A nd she noticed more standing water af ter rainfall because the root systems no longer absorbed it.

Link and her husband subsequently replanted trees — a white oak and a red oak. But it will take 30 years for their ef fects to be felt.

“T hat’s why it’s so impor tant for neighborhoods to protect their trees,” Link says.

W hen people ask her about trees, she says she of ten finds herself telling them what not to do.

“Don’t use herbicides of any k ind. Don’t pile up mulch around the tr unk of a tree. Don’t let vines climb it. Don’t dr ive your car over its roots,” Link says.

“But there’s one thing I always tell them,” she adds. “Trees are good.”

She pauses, then repeats, “Trees are good.”

Still, for all their benefits, trees make some homeow ners an xious.

“I understand the concer n people have with big trees around the house,” says Drew Hor ne, manager at Guilford Garden Center. “T here’s debr is and sometimes fallen branches af ter a stor m.”

“But that’s just par t of the r isk,” Hor ne continues. He believes that whenever people coalesce with nat ure, there’s r isk.

“W hen you plant a tree, you’re not planting it for yourself,” Hor ne says. “It’s like a g if t you make to the f ut ure.”

O ne even ing when I wa s doing rese arch for t h is pie c e, Spr in k les a nd I to ok a not her wa l k in Fisher Park . We were emerg ing f rom t he wo o ds’ e dge, a nd I not ic e l ig ht s in t he w indows of t he Ju l ia n Pr ic e house.

Movement catches my eye. A red-shouldered hawk settles on the limb of a dog wood just feet away. I stop in my track s.

T he hawk scans the g round, then drops to the forest floor r ight next to us.

Even Spr ink les stands still.

T he hawk cock s its wild, pitiless head and look s r ight at me.

T hen it lif ts its wings, snagg ing with its talons a vole that had been invisible till that moment, and flies of f.

With the hawk now in past tense, Spr ink les t ugs at her lead, ready to move on.

But I linger for a moment, in a cathedral of trees. OH

Ross Ho w ell Jr. is a fre el an ce w r it er. For infor m at ion on th e gard en s, a ct iv it i e s an d v olunt e er opp or tunit i e s at Gre en sboro Be aut iful, v isit w w w.g re en sborobe aut iful.org.

Treasure Trees

In the past, Guilford Count y established a Treasure Tree Prog ram to recog nize the largest, rarest and oldest tree specimens in the area. T he pur pose was to raise public awareness of these valuable and ir replaceable living things, increase ow ners’ awareness of their impor tance and encourage good stewardship. T he prog ram was also desig ned to help protect all trees in our reg ion f rom indiscr iminate removal or damage due to development and urbanization.

Here are examples. You might want to check trees in your ow n neighborhood. You may discover a treasure of your ow n. A merican Beech (Fagus grandiflora), Nor th Oak s Subdivision, 126 feet tall, crow n spread 75 feet, tr unk diameter 43 inches. A merican Elm (U lmus americana), Forest Valley Dr ive, 126 feet tall, crow n spread 45 feet, tr unk diameter 26.9 inches. Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum), Twin L akes Park, 98 feet tall, crow n spread 26.6 feet, tr unk diameter 34.6 inches. Bottlebush Buckeye (Aesculus parviflora), Kello Dr ive, 18 feet tall, crow n spread 18 feet, tr unk diameter 8.3 inches. Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica), Twin L akes Park, height of 87 feet, crow n spread 55 feet, tr unk diameter 39.5 inches. Dog wood (Cornus florida), Woodvale Dr ive, 28 feet tall, crow n spread 23 feet, tr unk diameter 23 inches. Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis), Trosper Road, 40 feet tall, crow n spread 9 feet, tr unk diameter 9 inches. Green A sh (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), Twin L akes Park, 103 feet tall, crow n spread 35.8 feet, tr unk diameter 36.8 inches. L oblolly Pine (Pinus taeda), High Meadows Cour t, 110 feet in height, crow n spread 40.3 feet, tr unk diameter 40.3 inches. Nor thern Red Oak (Quercus rubra), Nor th Church Street, 133 feet tall, crow n spread 87.5 feet, tr unk diameter 55.2 inches. Pecan (Car ya illinoensis), Williams Dair y Road, 94 feet tall, crow n spread 112.5 feet, tr unk diameter 43.25 inches. Post Oak (Quercus stellata), Cypress Street, 84 feet tall, crow n spread 84.5 feet, tr unk diameter 50 inches. Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum), West Fr iendly Avenue, 82.5 feet tall, crow n spread 67.25 feet, tr unk diameter 50.4 inches. Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), Guilford College Road, 148 feet tall, crow n spread 71 feet, tr unk diameter 63.9 inches. Called “T he Underg round R ailroad Tree,” it may date f rom the year 1713. Weeping Willow (Salix babylonica), Twin L akes Park, 60 feet tall, crow n spread 54 feet, tr unk diameter 50.4 inches. W hite Oak (Quercus alba), Nor th Church Street, 135 in height, crow n spread 90.5 feet, tr unk diameter 62.5 inches. Willow Oak (Quercus phellos), Cypress Street, 138 feet tall, crow n spread 84 feet, tr unk diameter 62.5 inches.

For the complete Treasure Tree list, go to w w w.g reensboro -nc.gov/ depar tments/planning / lear n-more-about/trees-and-urban-forestr y/ treasure-trees-prog ram.

A convenient place near dow ntow n Greensboro to see trees is Green Hill Cemeter y. Walk ing tours are available through Fr iends of Green Hill Cemeter y, a non-profit g roup that has identified some 70 0 tree var ieties in the cemeter y’s 51 acres. According to w w w.monumentaltrees.com, you’ll come across these big specimens, and more. Shor tleaf Pine (Pinus echinat a), 78 feet ta ll and more than 85 years old. Daw n R edwood (Met a se qu oi a glypt ostroboi d e s), more t ha n 50 fe et t a l l. Bigleaf Magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla), estimated to be 32 feet in height. Nor thern Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa), height of about 66 feet, tr unk diameter of nearly 48 inches. OH