There’s a spot on the Hilltop’s eastern slope just east of the Highlands apartment complex, where we had to eradicate a severe porcelain-berry vine infestation last summer. When we removed the porcelain-berry and other invasives, we only found one sycamore, one red mulberry and four raggedy boxelder trees — everything else had either been smothered or succumbed to disease (e.g., ash yellows, emerald ash borer).
However, this also presented us with a great forest regeneration opportunity, so we jumped on it. We engaged a contractor to dig >50 tree pits and then had volunteers bring supplies and prep the planting holes. Then we had another volunteer team roll in to plant and protect 50 native trees and shrubs, including:
- White oak
- Blackgum
- Sweetgum
- Tuliptree
- Red mulberry
- Elderberry
- Serviceberry
- White dogwood
Action shots are below. We still need your help to mulch the trees before summer heat and drought arrive — contact the Conservancy if you’d like to make the Hilltop a better place!
