Those who frequent Cloverly Park might have noticed a change over the last few weeks as Parks & Recreation gave Cloverly several days of emergency tree maintenance. A maple mid-park along the Laurens Street line needed serious pruning, and two old trees had to be removed.
The once-grand chestnut near the play area had been losing limbs for years (and even a section of the main trunk). It was the last of our two large chestnuts with the fragrant spring flowers. The magnificent, towering katsura near the School House Lane entrance was ailing. When the trunk was removed last week, neighbors counted some 130 rings.
Cloverly once had many such trees planted in the late nineteenth century, when the land was part of the Edward White Clark family’s estate, Cloverly, and some planted early in the twentieth century, when the two acres that are now the park were given to the city. The massive paulownia, the small weeping sophora, and the grand weeping beech are from that era.
Along with counting the rings of the katsura, we counted the number of trees planted in the 30 years since neighbors began to tend Cloverly Park actively. Since 1993 we have added 35 trees to the park. Some were selected and placed as direct successors to the beautiful specimen trees such as the katsura, part of the park renovation projects in 1994 and 2005. Others were gifts to the park in memory of loved ones. Still others were provided by Fairmount Park Conservancy during citywide initiatives to add trees to the parks.
Look for some of these trees on your next visit to the park: the gorgeous copper beech near the center of the park, the dogwoods along Wissahickon Avenue, the weeping cherry near Laurens Street, the yellowwood near the main entrance, the redbuds at the edge of the “meadow” area are all part of this new generation of trees in Cloverly.
However, although there are sources for new trees, Parks & Recreation cannot provide the regular, ongoing professional tree care that will help ensure long lives for the trees in the city’s parks. But you can help Cloverly’s trees to thrive. During Love Your Park service days, we weed under the young trees and mulch around the most vulnerable ones, trim up the weeping trees, and do some basic light pruning. And in 2017, we started the Friends of Cloverly Park’s Tree Campaign to build a reserve of funds for professional pruning and feeding of Cloverly’s trees. To donate, contact the Friends of Cloverly Park through this website.