Boxford is just a little bit greener this week, thanks to Boy Scout Troop 51 and Boxford Tree Warden Len Phillips. The boys, under the guidance of Phillips, planted a flowering cherry tree on the Melvin Green on Arbor Day, April 10.
"It wouldn't be Boxford with out all the trees," said 16-year old Scout Peter Benson, who organized the planting with members of his troop. "You look around Boxford and there are trees everywhere. This is helping keep it that way."
In a small ceremony, the Scouts planted the tree, Phillips announced that Boxford had been awarded status as a "Tree City U.S.A.," and Steve Davis, Boxford selectman, read a proclamation declaring April 10 as Arbor Day in the town of Boxford.
A small crowd gathered for the festivities that afternoon, enjoying the bright sunshine and warm weather. After Scouts presented the colors and said the Pledge of Allegiance, Phillips said a few words of welcome and Benson gave a brief history of Arbor Day.
As Phillips proclaimed Boxford a "Tree City, U.S.A.," the Scouts unfurled a banner from the Arbor Day Foundation.
Tyler Brown and Michael Chaoni, fifth-grade members of Troop 51, agreed that it will be neat to walk by the tree when they are older and remember that they helped plant it.
"It was fun ... planting the tree helps the community," Brown, 11, said of the afternoon.
"If we didn't have trees, we wouldn't be breathing," added Chaoni, 10.
The tree, growing on the grassy triangle at the intersection of Topsfield Road and Main and Elm streets, is a "Pink Snow Showers" variety of weeping cherry. The variety is a new cultivar introduced this year, Phillips said, and should be blooming in a couple of weeks.
Phillips received the tree at no cost from the J. Frank Schmidt & Son nursery, with the agreement that he will report back to the Oregon-based company each year and monitor how the tree grows in New England's climate.
J. Frank Schmidt & Son is known for introducing new varieties of trees, and sends him free trees every year, Phillips said, as a way to test them.
The Pink Snow Showers tree will have brilliant gold leaves in the fall, he said, and is bred to be drought-tolerant and pest resistant. It will grow no taller than 25 feet, staying well clear of overhead utility wires.
"It should last 40 or 50 years, longer than me," Phillips said.
Troop 51 has planted trees on every Arbor Day for the last four years, said Benson, as a service and leadership project. Phillips showed them how to plant the cherry tree — it had bare roots, which are delicate and must be kept wet — and the Scouts were surprised that the tree absorbed three buckets of water once planted.
After the ceremony, the Scouts distributed Arbor Day buttons and brochures to everyone in attendance.
Most of the trees on the Melvin Green had been cut down by utility companies, said Davis, to keep them away from overhead wires.
Plans are being made to install a new flag pole on the green, next to the veteran's monument.
Earlier this month, selectmen approved the installation of a flag pole that will be less than 50 feet tall. It will be the second pole on the green. The other, said to be about 30 feet, will fly a prisoners-of-war flag.
Frank Pomroy, a Boxford resident and Guadalcanal veteran, suggested the idea and is urging folks in town to donate money for a new, bigger flag pole on the green.
The cherry tree, Melvin Green's newest addition, is a sign that "things are going to start happening," said Phillips. He has several more trees in mind for the Melvin green, he said.
Did you know?
r Arbor Day was started in the late 1800s by J. Sterling Morton, who moved to Nebraska from Detroit and found his new state void of trees. He proposed the idea of a tree-planting holiday, to be called Arbor Day, to the Nebraska state Board of Agriculture in January 1872.
The first Arbor Day was celebrated in Nebraska that year, and it was estimated that more than 1 million trees were planted in the state that day. It has since become a national and international holiday, celebrated on different days depending on the region's growing season.
r Tree City, U.S.A. is a designation given by the Arbor Day Foundation to towns with a tree board, warden or department, a tree care ordinance, a community forestry program with an annual budget of at least $2 per capita and celebrates Arbor Day with an annual observance and proclamation.
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Donate to install a new flagpole on Melvin Green
r Donations are being collected at the East Boxford branch of TD Banknorth, 7 Elm St. for a new, taller flagpole to be installed on the Melvin Green. The estimated cost for the new flagpole will be $12,000.
For more information, call Frank Pomroy at 978-887-5393.
Pomroy, a Boxford resident and Guadalcanal veteran, is hoping to raise enough to fly a prominent American flag above Melvin Green, a grassy triangle at the intersection of Topsfield Road and Main and Elm streets.
Pomroy wanted a 60-foot flagpole, but selectmen ultimately approved one that will be less than 50 feet. The older flagpole, said to be about 30 feet, will fly a prisoners-of-war flag. Pomroy thinks the new pole could hold an American flag perhaps 10 by 15 feet.
Pomroy hopes the town's 900 elementary schoolchildren could raise $4 each toward the project. He's trying to raise about $12,000 for the Melvin Green flagpole and another pole in West Boxford.
— Staff Writer Mike Stucka
