Press Release from the Daytime Gardeners

Three town organizations joined forces to plant seedling trees at the Clintonville Nature Trail in North Haven. The property is owned by the North Haven Land Trust (NHLT) and offers a half mile of easy-to-walk nature trails. The land is wooded with a large variety of trees, and there also are some open areas. Wildlife such as birds, deer, rabbits, and turkeys may be seen as they, too, enjoy the property!

The Daytime Gardeners of North Haven and Girl Scout Troop #60421, led by Jennifer and Lisa, collaborated with the NHLT to plant 13 seedlings of different varieties, including Sweet Gum, Swamp White Oak, Dawn Redwood, and Black Tupelo. The Daytime Gardeners frequently support the Girl Scout troops with educational projects to help the scouts learn about the environment, conservation, and gardening in order to earn credits for their badges. This project is an environmental education program. The scouts are in third grade and seventh grade this year. It is especially nice to see the older scouts teaching the younger ones the information the gardeners taught them just a few years earlier.

Four teams were organized, and each team planted three seedlings. The materials were set out at each location where the seedlings were to be planted. Shovels, a tray for dirt, four stakes, landscape fabric, mulch, chicken wire, and water were ready at each location. Adults helped with digging the holes, and the scouts did planting, laying out the landscape fabric, and mulching. Chicken wire was placed around each seedling to protect it from grazing deer and nibbling rabbits. The scouts really enjoyed using the stake pounder to drive the stakes into the ground.

Members of these organizations will monitor the seedlings throughout the year to ensure they receive sufficient rain and to maintain the protective fences until the seedlings are mature enough to manage on their own. We hope the public will enjoy watching these seedlings grow into beautiful trees, each with its own unique characteristics. We are sure the scouts will enjoy visiting to watch “their trees” grow into mature trees as the years go by.