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.

For the past few years a dedicated band of your fellow neighbors has been helping to make Passyunk Square a greener, cleaner place. Now we need your help to continue that good work at our semi-annual Tree Planting on Saturday. We have 33 trees to get in the ground, and can use as much help as we can get to put them in the ground the right way. We’re also looking for people to maintain some of the other 600+ trees we’ve planted over the past 7 years.

We’ll be meeting at Capitolo Playground at 9th and Federal at 8:45am to get everything started!

After a quick orientation on the proper way to plant the tree we will split up into groups to head out and plant. This year, volunteers from City Year – middle and high schoolers – will stick around Capitolo and help us take care of the trees we’ve planted in the past. We’ll also be mulching every tree we plant, as well as some other trees that need it, so there will certainly be plenty for everyone to do.

The planting part of the day should last until about 12 or 1 at the latest and afterwards we’ll head over to Devil’s Den to plant ourselves on several of their barstools for drink and food specials as a reward for all the hard work.

We could also use a few people to help us unload and sort the trees on Friday evening, at 5pm, so if you can’t make the planting but are free Friday at that time, contact Andrew Emma, our Beautification Chair at beautification@passyunk.org.

If you are interested in getting a tree in front of your house or would like to pass out forms on your block to get more trees on your street, use this link to download the form, which you can fill out and mail to Andrew at the addess above. Fortunately, the deadline to apply for the November planting has been extended to May 1, so you have plenty of time to get the forms out to those who may be interested. We also have them in 6 other languages, if you know of any non-English speakers who youd like to inform as well.

Special thanks to everyone who has participated in past tree plantings. Your work has definitely been noticed. if you have any questions or concerns definitely let me know.