Master Gardeners and Tree Vitalize

Southeastern Pennsylvania certainly could use more trees. In fact, research done in 2002 showed an alarming loss of tree cover in the metro Philly area. In response, a program called Tree Vitalize, http://www.treevitalize.net/,  was born. This private/public partnership has the goal of establishing one million new trees. Quoting from the Tree Vitalize website... “An additional goal is to train 10,000 volunteers in basic tree biology and tree care to assist their communities in establishing and maintaining new plantings. Ultimately, the goal of TreeVitalize is to establish strong urban forestry partnerships in all 14 Pennsylvania metropolitan areas and to build local capacity for sustaining the urban forest resource.”

It is a wonderful program. Many Penn State Master Gardeners have become Tree Tenders. And they are planting lots of trees. Tree Tenders training is ongoing in many communities. See this http://www.pennsylvaniahorticulturalsociety.org/phlgreen/tree-training.html for details.


At Neshaminy Manor Center, home of the Penn State Extension offices in Bucks County, we have planted about 75 Tree Vitalize trees.  The latest were added on November 11. We’re calling our planting The Almshouse Arboretum and it consists of Tree Vitalize trees, some existing trees, as well as specimens we have added on our own. We love the Tree Vitalize trees because they are “bare-root”… that is, no soil comes with the plant. Anyone can pick up a bare-root plant and teams of two install them in a jiffy. A bit of staking, watering and mulch and the job is done. Our crew planted 11 trees, start to finish, in less than 3 hours. 

Penn State Master Gardeners have most of the trees in the Almshouse Arboretum labeled so you can do a self-guided tour. Or, contact us to have a Master Gardner give you or your group a personalized tour.


Note that Tree Vitalize and Tree Tenders are great programs for communities that want to establish trees. They are not designed to assist private property owners. Many Bucks County communities would benefit from more trees. Penn State Master Gardeners are ready to assist. Call us to see how you can become part of the effort to “Tree Vitalize” southeastern Pennsylvania.