Green skies ahead

For Homewood’s neighborhood trees, autumn doesn’t only mean falling leaves. Several native species have seeds ready for harvesting, and that’s where the Homewood Environmental Commission (HEC) steps in.

The HEC is planning to gather these seeds as part of an ongoing native replanting effort, called “Green Skies Over Homewood.” The seeds will be grown at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens until they reach replanting age between 18 months and two years from now. The replanting project is intended to correct tree canopy damage due to urban development.

“This program was very successful in Birmingham parks, so we thought it would help to have it here in Homewood as well,” said HEC member Liz Ellaby.

Seedlings grown from previous harvests are being prepared for planting now. Ellaby said 100 oaks and hickories are being planted from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Nov. 1 at the Homewood City Schools central office. A group of 25 Boy Scouts will be helping with the planting. Ellaby said the office was chosen to replace trees lost during construction and to visibly promote the HEC’s efforts. There will be 50 trees planted on the south side of the building, 30 on the northwest side and 20 near the road.

Additionally, volunteers from Homewood Parks and Recreation will plant 50 seedlings at the Homewood Senior Center on Saturday, Nov. 8. Plans are also underway to plant 21 overcup oaks and bald cypress on Central Avenue during the 2014-2015 fiscal year. The city has allocated $10,000 for that project and Goodwyn, Mills, Cawood provided the engineering and drawings for free.

Ellaby would like to see Homewood filled with native tree species planted and cared for by residents. In future years, she wants to give seedlings to local neighborhoods in need of trees. The success of “Green Skies” will depend on the harvesting and planting becoming a fall tradition. However, Ellaby has had little interest from volunteers so far.

“Recruiting volunteers is hard because the work isn’t real immediately gratifying,” Ellaby said.

The future beauty and environmental health of Homewood, however, could depend on these trees. For this year’s harvest, the HEC is focusing on local southern red oaks and eastern white oaks, and Ellaby hopes plenty of residents will step up to help in harvesting.

“We want this to be the beginning of a regular thing,” Ellaby said.

Volunteers can sign up for the planting and get tree identification and harvest instructions by contacting Ellaby at lizellaby@gmail.com.