October 12th, 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 a couple excited about coming to "the city". Thanks for thinking of Trees Atlanta and the Beltline!

Thanks for a great tour!

Map of the week...
Toward the end our tour, we talked about how early development of the land on both sides of Ponce de Leon disrupted the natural watershed. That early development included a baseball field (where Home Depot/Whole Foods). In 1924, you could have reached that ballpark (and our tour!) by the streetcar running north on Peachtree St and then east out Ponce.

"Atlanta Streetcars, 1924"

(Thanks, Wiki!)

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

Tupelo Blackgum - Seen in the Trees Atlanta Arboretum along the beltline eastside trail between Freedom Parkway and Ralph McGill, columnar subspecies of this tree have along been planted next to the Ponce City Market shed bio swale. Loved by pollinators in the spring for its flower and by all in the fall for its spectacular colors, Blackgum is a favorite of many southerners.

Nyssa sylvatica

Tupelo Blackgum

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

Q: How old is the magnolia between Telephone Factory Lofts and the Beltline?

A: Short answer; without drilling a core sample and counting the rings, there is no way to measure its exact age. However, judging by its height (80 ish feet), location (next to the Western Electric factory built 81 years ago in 1938), and thinning canopy, it is definitely in its senior years. Plenty of time to give it lots of love and plant a next generation companion magnolia nearby!

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>

July 13, 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 Georgia Tech, new ATL transplants, and neighborhood activists!

Thanks for a great tour!

Map of the week...
Bird's eye view of Atlanta, 1892. Notice the railroad tracks weaving in and out of the right margin, leading north to Ponce de Leon Avenue. There, you can see the old pre-baseball-stadium lake on the north side and the pre-Sear/Ponce-City-Market amusement park on the south. Also, notice the old (now gone) railroad spur further to the north leading into Piedmont Park, possibly left over from the Piedmont Exposition of 1887 or to support the upcoming Cotton States and International Exposition of 1895.

"Bird's Eye View of Atlanta, 1892"
(Thanks, Library of Congress!)

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

Swamp White Oak survives in watery, low oxygen soil, conditions not unlike the poor, post-industrial, recovering soils along the Beltline!

Quercus bicolor
Swamp White Oak (White Oak Family)

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

Q1: Upon hearing about the "3 Tree Hill" champion Scarlet Oak: "Was the tree famously lost a few years back in Decatur a champion as well?"

A1: Neighbor Jeff found out, "It sure was! At 150 years old, it was reaching the end of its lifespan and was taken down in 2012." <link>

Q2: Upon seeing the art installation at the Angiers Springs Beltline access point: "Does that represent rails?"
A2: Neighbor Jeff found out, "Based on what I read, the artist's original design did not specifically reference railroads, but he *did* say "the space constantly reinvents itself." And isn't that what great art does? In the context of time, our tour, the art we had just seen, and our newly acute awareness of the history of the Beltline, associating the tall, rusty iron forest with rail lines seem like a natural evolution of interpretation."

June 8th, 2019 - WEATHER CANCELLATION

May 4, 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!

Thanks for joining me, friends and family!

Map of the week...
City of Atlanta Boundaries. City limits reached the eastside of the intersection of the Beltline and Ralph McGill in 1904...the westside of the intersection wasn't incorporated until 1909.

Annexation Map of Atlanta

(Thanks, GSU | University Library!)

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

Quercus muehlenbergii

Chinkapin Oak (White oak family)

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

Q: Chris asked, "What is the lifespan of an elm?"

A: Neighbor Jeff found out, "Boy oh boy, does that depend! Prior to the arrival of Dutch Elm Disease in North America in the 1930's, it wouldn't be unusual for an elm to reach 400 years in age. Today, with the bushier and quicker growing 'Princeton' variety being "the" North American elm, the lifespan of an elm that can survive in North America is about 150 years."