Meet at Capitolo Playground, 9th and Federal
8:45 am with after party at Fountain Porter

We’re teaming up with our neighbors at East Passyunk Crossing Civic Association (EPX) to do a combined planting event this Spring.  We’ve got over 50 trees to plant, including quite a few at Jackson School. We’ll need lots of help so spread the word.

Bring and shovel and gloves if you have them, or we’ll have some to lend. Send us an email at beautification@passyunk.org and let us know you’re coming or RSVP on Facebook.

If you’re getting a new tree, or have one from one from our recent planting, we encourage you to visit PHS’s guide to caring for your tree.  Watering is very import in the first year after planting, so give that tree a drink!

Forms need to be passed over to PHS for processing soon, so if you’d like a street tree planted in our fall planting event, download the pdf found at www.passyunksquare.org/beautification under the Tree Planting section and send us your form! Participating in our planting events is a fun way to meet your neighbors and get some more hands on information about how to best care for your tree.  We accept tree forms on a rolling basis, but we’ll need them by the 29th to get you a chance for a tree in the Fall of 2013. Alternatively, you can apply anytime to get a street tree planted by the city.

We’re always looking for help identifying places that could use some new trees, or spots with trees that need to be replaced. If you’re interested in getting more trees on your block, or helping us canvass for spots that need new or replaced trees, get in touch at beautification@passyunk.org!

Our semiannual Street Tree Planting is being held on Saturday, November 10th at Capitolo Playground at 9th and Federal Streets.  This Fall’s event is going to be extra special, as the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society will be culminating their “Home Runs For Trees” partnership with the Phillies prior to our event!  The Phillie Phanatic will be on hand, as well as some guest speakers that have yet to be named, but we really want our community to come out in full force to greet everyone and, afterwards, to help us plant 50 trees throughout the neighborhood!  Bring a camera, some gloves, and a shovel, and the faster we get the trees in the ground, the sooner we can celebrate afterwards! 

Speakers go on around 9:30am, we’ll start planting around 10am, and with enough people, we should be done around 1pm to enjoy food and drink specials at a nearby eatery to be determined soon.  Stay tuned for more details, but for now, save the date and tell your friends!!

Please email us at beautification@passyunk.org to let us know if you’ll be able to volunteer at the event.  It’s going to be a great day!

More details on the Home Runs for Trees program here: http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/phi/community/rgg/home_runs_trees.jsp

We’re giving you a summer vacation from General Meetings for July and August, so we’ll see you in September with updates from our committees who have been busy working straight through these hot months to make Passyunk Square even better!  Speaking of committees, our 2012 Board of Directors and Committees have been announced:

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Pam Zenzola, President
Angel D’Ippolito, Vice-President Outreach
Sarah Anton, Treasurer and Beautification Committee Co-Chair
Karin Morris, Secretary and Planning Committee Chair
Christine Knapp, Immediate Past President
Andrew Emma, Beautification Committee Co-Chair
Chris DiCapua, Parks Liaison
Ilene Wilder, Fundraising and Events Committee Chair
Carmela Fioretti, Trash and Recycling Committee
Cassie Knox, Communications Committee Chair

COMMITTEES
Beautification Clean-ups, plantings, banners, block efforts
co-chairs: Andrew Emma and Sarah Anton
Communications Public relations, external communication
chair: Cassie Knox
Zoning Monitoring zoning change requests
chair: John Digiulio
Outreach Giving every resident of the neighborhood a chance to become involved
chair: Angel D’Ippolito
Safety / Passyunk Square Town Watch
chair: Kim Davis
Trash & Recycling
chair: Carmela Fioretti
Planning Convening stakeholders to help choose what we want the area to look like in the future
chair: Karin Morris
Fund Raising/Sapling Program For association activities
chair: Ilene Wilder
Education Supporting schools in the neighborhood
chair: Open

On November 19, 35 volunteers came together to plant 51 trees in Passyunk Square. Coverage of the event can be found in the South Philly Review. That coverage includes a photo taken by neighbor Jim Bazis of some of our Passyunk Square volunteers (including Civic Association Board President Christine Knapp, right):

In addition, the Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation (PARC) has awarded the Passyunk Square Civic Association a $2500 matching grant toward general greening and beautification. PSCA will be using this generous funding to do a professional tree planting along the 9th Street corridor between Federal and Wharton, across from Geno’s. The funding will provide soil remediation, and 7 “balled and burlapped” Winter King Hawthorne trees to be professionally planted. Those trees are scheduled to go in TODAY (12/2/11) at 11am. In addition, this grant makes possible the purchase of a portable watering source for continued care of street trees planted along public areas.

If you’re in the area at that time, stop by and check them out!

Saturday! – 8:45am to 1pm

Meet at the rec center building at Capitolo Playground on the 9th Street side of the park at 9th and Federal.

It’s time to plant some more trees. There are 42 trees coming next Saturday and we’ll need lots of hands to help get them in the ground. We’ll have tools but feel free to bring your own shovel and gloves – we can always use extras.

If you’ve done this before you’ll know that it’s a really fun day. Please join us and bring a friend!

Sarah and Andrew from our Beautification Committee promise that anyone who gets to 9th and Federal by 9am will get coffee and Federal Donuts. Like Andrew says: “Volunteering is the new being a lazy slob!”

UPDATE:

After all your hard work join us at 1pm at the Devil’s Den so we can all “plant” ourselves on some bar stools, “dig” into some cheap appetizers. They’ll be offering 20% off all food orders, $1 off select draft beers, and free coffee.

Email Sarah and Andrew with questions, ideas, comments at beautification@passyunk.org.

Nov 19 – Next Saturday! – 8:45am to 1pm

Meet at the rec center building at Capitolo Playground on the 9th Street side of the park.

It’s time to plant some more trees. There are 42 trees coming next Saturday and we’ll need lots of hands to help get them in the ground. We’ll have tools and hot beverages, though feel free to bring your own shovel and gloves – we can always use extras.

If you’ve done this before you’ll know that it’s a really fun day. Please join us and bring a friend! To sweeten the pot, we’re trying to organize a little post-planting gathering at a local “watering” hole so we can all “plant: ourselves on some bar stools, “dig” into some cheap appetizers and use quotations marks a lot.

Email Sarah and Andrew with questions, ideas, comments at beautification@passyunk.org.

The Beautification Committee of the PSCA is responsible for, among other things, all of the great work that has been done to increase the number of street trees in the neighborhood. However, planting the trees isn’t the end of the story. While many homeowners who have welcomed new trees in front of their own houses have done a great job at keeping their trees watered and pruned, there are several new trees in public spaces that require volunteers to care for them.

The Beautification Committee is seeking volunteers to help for an hour or two on Wednesdays and Saturdays from now through October (when the trees go to sleep for the winter). These groups of volunteers will primarily water and prune the trees around Capitolo Playground.

Volunteers will meet at 6pm on Wednesdays and 10am on Saturdays at the main entrance to Capitolo at 9th and Federal. The Beautification Committee welcomes anyone who can attend any of these gatherings so please don’t feel like you are obligating yourself to come to every one. A representative of the Committee will be on hand to instruct people on what to do.

For more information or to RSVP, please email beautification@passyunk.org.

Join PSCA and The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society for a Workshop for Pruning and Comprehensive Tree Care.

Tuesday, May 31st
6:30 PM
Columbus Square Recreation Center
12th and Wharton Sts.

Help sustain our Urban Forest.