Gorey Tidy Towns celebrate World Earth Day by planting a grove of trees
Gorey Tidy Towns planted these trees in the hopes they will add colour and biodiversity to the streetscape along the Paul Funge Boulevard.
The centrepiece tree is a tall pin oak, the same variety as those on the Avenue. It is surrounded by two sweet gum, three Norway maple, nine Himalayan birch and six mountain ash.
The sweet gum tree is native to Asia and the eastern Mediterranean. It is a broadly conical tree with young shoots, often with corky wings. Its green leaves will turn to orange, red and purple in the autumn.
The pin oak or English oak, is a rugged, spreading, deciduous tree with fissured, grey-brown bark and dark green leaves and it produces acorns.
The Norway maple has dark red-purple foliage, which matures into dark purple and red tinged yellow flowers. The silver Himalayan birch has beautiful white bark with green leaves that turn to yellow in autumn and it produces yellow-brown catkins in spring.
The mountain ash or rowan tree is a native Irish tree which produces white flowers in spring followed by bright red berries in autumn. The ancient Irish druids believed this tree to be a protector of the family home.
Billy Halford of Gorey Tidy Towns thanked Wexford County Council for their ongoing support and for their donation of the six rowan trees.
This project was sponsored by Kinbark Nurseries in Camolin, which donated 15 trees, designed the layout, planted the trees and laid bark mulch. The six mountain ash trees came from Wexford County Council's Trees for Wexford programme.
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Irish Examiner
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