Tiffin Arbor Day, 2003
Tiffin has been awarded an Ohio Bicentennial Tree Planting Grant. The funding is through the Ohio EPA, but administered by the Division of Forestry.
The grant is for $6,240, which requires matching funds from the city. The matching money is from the yearly Shade Tree Commission tree-planting budget so no new appropriations are needed.
A part of the bicentennial planting will be located on the north side of the Washington Street Bridge along Water Street to the railroad. A larger site will extend from the south side of the bridge along Riverside Drive to the viaduct. On the other side of the viaduct, a smaller site will continue along the river to Hunter Street. The trees selected for the sites on both sides of the river include 30 Spire Cherries and 28 Centurion Crabapples.
City workers and volunteers will remove weed trees, dead and dying trees, and most shrubs from the area between the viaduct and Hunter Street along Riverside Drive on November 12th, 13th and 14th, 2002. Ten Eastern Redbud alternating with ten Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry will be bought with the grant money and planted there in the spring of 2003. In summary, 57 trees are to be planted on the Old Tiffin Historic side of the Sandusky River, and 21 trees on the Old Fort Ball side.
The grant also includes money for bicentennial plaques to be placed on both sides of the river near the Washington Street Bridge.
This fall the city expects to plant about 100 trees. Fifty of those will fulfill requests that have come from individual property owners. The rest of the trees will replace trees that have been removed due to sidewalk replacement requirements. The city expects in time to replace all those trees automatically provided that the site is appropriate. Next year, I suppose we will see additional trees removed as part of the sidewalk extension program.
National Arbor Day is April 25th in 2003. Our Tiffin Arbor Day and the Tiffin Tree Celebrations will culminate on Saturday, April 26th.
The Tree Commission is formulating plans for that week which includes:
1. Art work on trees by pupils in the public and private schools. The winning displays will be exhibited at the Tiffin-Seneca Public Library.
2. The winners of a contest of original poetry about trees by Tiffin and Seneca county residents will be displayed.
3. Educational programs will be held during that week.
4. A tree planting ceremony will be on April 26th including placement of the bicentennial plaques.
5. The official program will last from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., April 26th.
6. Stephanie Miller, Northwest Ohio Urban Forester and officials from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and other state officials will speak during the program on April 26th.
For the Tiffin Tree Celebration Week, we hope to have available a list of the largest trees of Tiffin and Seneca County. Perhaps the largest tree in the county is a sycamore located at High Banks, just south of the Ernest Wise, Sr. property. It is located on a flood plain just across Spicer Creek. It measures eight feet in diameter.
A final note, a beautiful flowering tree that is planted in many parts of Tiffin is the Japanese Silk Lilac. It is a true lilac that flowers about five weeks after the common lilac. The creamy white flowers are borne in large clusters. The flowering cluster branch ultimately dies. To encourage flowering for the following year, that branch should be removed down to the first pair of leaves behind the flower cluster as soon as it finishes flowering.
– Percy