On Saturday, April 27th 8 Rotarians, 2 Livermore students, and one LARPD naturalist set out to plant 15 new trees in our local community parks. The chosen parks included Northfront, Bill Clark, Wattenberger, Marlin Pound and Les Knotts Parks. Each park received between 2 - 6 trees each. The project is the brain child of the Rotary International Fundraising Committee chaired by Paul Brown. It's aim is to give thanks to individuals who donated to the Rotary International's 2012-2013 Fundraising Campaign while also serving a public need. Trees are lost in our local parks through natural causes, aging, or vandalism. The contribution of the trees to LARPD by The Livermore Rotary Club marks a committment by both organizations to work collaboratively for the benefit of the community at large. Two types of trees were chosen including African Sumacs and Canary Island Pines. The Canary Island Pine is an everygreen tree with an oval, pyramidal shape and it grows in acidic, loamy, moist, sandy, well drained, clay soils. The Canary Island Pine is used by Woodpeckers, Bats, and invertebrates as a source of food because of the large numbers of insects that use this tree throughout their various life-stages. The tree produces 6" oval to oblong brown cones. The African Sumac is a dense shade tree, rather graceful with its arching branches and weeping foliage. It is tough and reliable in dry conditions, and is effective as a screen or windbreak, and as an evergreen specimen. It is drought tolerant and does well in clay, loam or sand. All the trees were treated to a dose of Sea Crop which is an organic, fertilizer made from sea-water that contains 89 elements from compound minerals. Sea Crop is a catalytic trigger that releases nature's energy to give the full benefit of soil microflora symbiosis. What Are Soil Microflora? Microflora or microbiota refers to the smallest soil organisms, including fungi and algae. The beneficial fungi and bacteria that are native and adapted to your soil are stimulated to grow and reproduce abundantly, rapidly giving all of the well documented benefits of microflora symbiosis. All members from the community are welcome to join in and help with this project. We need diggers, stakers, watering help, people with an interest in naturalist or botanical life, and photographers. To do so please contact Sheila Fagliano at 583-3517.
