Plymouth Tree & Shrub Sale
The Plymouth Tree and Shrub Sale is going on now and it’s a great time to find something new for your yard! This year there are a total of 19 different trees and shrubs; 11 trees, and 8 shrubs. Plymouth City Forester Paul Buck says, “Every year we try and throw something new in. We have a Maple, which we don’t always include, because Maples sometimes are over planted. We have some species that are not quite native, they’re a little more southern species, we’re trying to look ahead to climate change.” Community Forestry Corps Member Elsa Thonn adds, “There are 6 flowering shrubs, and 2 fruiting shrubs. We offer some re-blooming shrubs, so the flowers will bloom twice in the Summer, and for the fruiting shrubs we have a Blueberry, and a Jostaberry.” Aside from a great selection the sale offers residents a good price on trees and shrubs, as well as helps the city diversify its plant stock. Buck goes on to say, “When we’re dealing with things like Dutch Elm Disease, and now the current EAB where a certain species is over planted, almost to the point of monoculture, when an insect or disease comes along it wipes it all out at the same time, so we’re trying to really promote that diversity even on scale of in your own yard. Try and have multiple species in your yard so that if something comes along, if it takes one of them out it’s only one replacement tree, versus six of them all at once.” The plants that are offered were chosen for their environmental benefits, and because they are well-adapted to local growing conditions, as Buck adds, “We try and pick out things that are hardy, that’ll grow in our clay, because most of our soil is heavy clay, it’s also alkaline soil, so we try and pick species that’ll survive and do well in this.” For a complete list of what’s being offered during the Plymouth Tree and Shrub Sale, and to order, go to http://www.PlymouthMN.gov/TreeSale.
