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Dwight Filer led an effort Thursday to plant a linden tree at TwispWorks, with help from Daniel Senner, center, and Tuck Stebbins, right.
Volunteers worked to break up the root ball of a linden tree that was planted Thursday at TwispWorks in recognition of Arbor Day.
Twisp celebrates 20 years as Tree City USA
By Natalie Johnson
With a ceremonial tree planting on Thursday (April 15) at TwispWorks, the Town of Twisp entered its 20th year as one of the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree Cities USA.
The town’s Tree Board held its annual event at the Commons Park adjacent to the Methow Valley Community Center, which it converted from a set of dilapidated tennis courts, Tree Board member Dwight Filer told attendees.
Thursday’s event also included organizations including Classroom in Bloom, the Methow Conservancy and the Okanogan Conservation District.
The event included a tree giveaway of a number of small tree starts and larger saplings. Classroom in Bloom also gave a demonstration on starting smaller plants from seeds in compacted soil blocks, eliminating the need for plastic trays.
The board has planted hundreds of trees in the city limits in the past two decades. The newest – a linden – was planted Thursday at TwispWorks with the help of a handful of volunteers.
Favorites
Trees planted by the board are picked for a variety of reasons. Filer told the Methow Valley News he favors deciduous, or leafy trees, but noted that native coniferous trees tend to do better in areas without irrigation.
New Tree Board member Tamar Baber donated three varieties of trees to the giveaway — Ponderosa pines, Douglas maples and hawthorns — all of which are adapted to Eastern Washington’s climate, Filer said.
He picked the linden because, unlike some other trees that budded out and grew leaves too soon, it had done well through the early spring frosts.
“I’m familiar with lindens. I have one myself – they’re beautiful” Filer said.
Filer pointed out one of the board’s earlier efforts at the park, a European beech, planted at the back corner closest to the community center.
“At maturity it will be 75 feet tall and 3 feet in diameter,” Filer said.
How it’s done
Other trees are picked because they’re interesting, like the Kentucky coffee tree, also at the community center park.
“During World War II there were coffee shortages,” Filer told the crowd at Thursday’s event. “Some people used the nuts of this tree.”
The linden planted Thursday joins a hophornbeam, red maple and scarlet oak at the small grassy area in the middle the TwispWorks campus.
During the planting, Filer demonstrated the correct way to plant a tree – first, dig a deep enough hole, but not too deep. Planting a tree too deep can hamper its growth.
“In extreme cases it will kill the tree,” he said.
Next, break up the root ball, saturate the soil, center the tree and fill it back up. Trees should get plenty of water in their first few years to promote root growth.
