September 14th, 2019

This Week's Tour...
...met at 9:00AM Saturday on the Beltline Eastside Trail near Parish. We walked for 1 1/2 hours, covering 1 mile of the Beltline, ending at Ponce City Market.

"The Tourists"...
...shouting out to this week's tour group, including 5 young ladies on a "girls weekend". Thanks for thinking of Trees Atlanta and the Beltline!

Thanks for a great tour!

Map of the week...
As we reached the Beltline's intersection with Ralph McGill Blvd, we talked about the property west of the trail being incorporated in 1904 as part of the city limit expansion to include what is now Piedmont Park. Here is an earlier map of the park during the 1895 Cotton States Exhibition.

"Cotton States Exhibition, 1895"

(Thanks, AJC!)

Tree of the week...
...singling out one of the hundreds of specimens from the dozens of collections along the arboretum.

The Bur Oak - on the north side of Tim Frank's permanent art installation at the intersection with Angier Springs - is one of two North American oak species along the Beltline Eastside trail NOT native to Georgia.  Its name comes from the fringed cup around its acorn. It is a member of the white oak group, having rounded, lobed leaves.

Quercus macrocarpa

Bur Oak

"Stump" of the week...
...featuring a question raised during the tour that Jeff couldn't answer.

Q1: (Upon seeing evidence of early leaf drop and struggling trees during this unusually hot and dry September) Is that cedar tree dying?

A1: Good news! Those copper-colored conifers you see along the Beltline are examples of deciduous conifers; needled trees that lose their leaves each winter, so they are perfectly healthy! Now for the "a little more research" news...while I know that there are excellent examples of bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) growing on the shores of Lake Clara Meer in Piedmont Park, as well as specimen along the Eastside Trail just south of the intersection with Monroe, I didn't look closely enough to see if this particular tree near Freedom Parkway was indeed a bald cypress or the taller, more pyramidal dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides). 

Here's a video that will hopefully help me ID them better next tour (dawn = opposite branches/leaflets, bald = alternating branches/leaflets)! Thanks for the challenge! <link>

August 10, 2019

This Week's Tour...
...met at 9:00AM Saturday on the Beltline Eastside Trail near Parish. We walked for 1 1/2 hours, covering 1 mile of the Beltline, ending at Ponce City Market.

"The Tourists"...
...shouting out to this week's tour group, representing 2 generations of Trees Atlanta, a new ATL transplant, 2 repeat tour takers, and Beltline neighbors!

Thanks for a great tour!

Map of the week...
Atlanta Wards, 1854. During the tour, we stopped where the Beltline intersects North Avenue to talk about Atlanta city limits. North Avenue was not a northern boundary of the city limits; it was "north" of the city until expansion in 1874.

"Atlanta Wards, 1854"

(Thanks, Wikipedia!)

Tree of the week...
...singling out one of the hundreds of specimens from the dozens of collections along the arboretum.

Box Elder is a fast-growing, short-lived native North American maple species with opposite, compound leaves. When a sapling, the box elder can display 3 leaves in its compound arrangement, causing some to mistake it for poison ivy. Soon enough, though, it will display its mature compound configuration of 5 leaves. The shape of individual leaves may not immediate bring "maple" to mind, but the end of summer showing of seeds will certainly be familiar to many!

Acer Negundo

Box Elder

"Stump" of the week...
...featuring 2 questions raised during the tour that Jeff couldn't answer.

Q1: How does the Beltline determine/count usage?

A1: I'm still looking into the "how" Beltline users are counted, but here are some interesting stats from 2016:  "...1.7 million users of the Eastside Trail engaged in regular physical activity – walking to the store, biking to work, jogging, skating, and more – which reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes and improves mental health and weight control, among other benefits.  Meanwhile, $3.7 billion of new development within the Atlanta BeltLine planning area (roughly ½ mile on either side of the corridor) proves the Atlanta BeltLine’s value as an economic catalyst." <link>

Q2: Upon seeing dead limbs on a Beltline adjacent tree, "why hasn't that been pruned?"
A2: Some details on the "how" and "if" of Trees Atlanta maintenance (including the Beltline Arboretum): "Trees Atlanta's planting season is October-April, when newly transplanted saplings haven't yet leafed out and can put energy into re-establishing their roots. When not planting, Trees Atlanta leads regular volunteer work parties to improve both Atlanta's planted and forested areas by pruning trees along streets and removing invasive plants from parks and forests." <learn more>