For some time now, I and the Neighborhood Association have had as a goal removing three spruce trees from the center area of Warwick Way Gardens. They have now been taken down. We knew from the start that the spruce trees would grow quite large, and start to shade the pollinator garden. One of them was not healthy due to water run-off from the bike ramp, and in fact was already replaced once. I have a strong preference for native shrubs in that space, over the spruce trees that are not native, and don’t really fit in with the landscape we have created. Our plan is to choose two or three native shrubs that will do well there, and will provide flowers, berries, and seeds for pollinators, birds, and other wildlife. We are in the process of applying for a small grant from the Madison Area Master Gardeners Association to pay for these. Our goal is to complete this in the coming growing season. We obtained an extension of our existing permit from WisDOT until the end of January, for the tree removal.
We hope to make further improvements associated with the new shrubs, perhaps in the fall or next year. One possibility is to add new garden beds surrounding the new shrubs.
Not everyone will be in agreement with this choice. Certainly there are drawbacks to losing large trees, in terms of reducing climate change. But I am fairly confident that the end result will be in keeping with our other efforts there, and that avoiding excessive shade on the sun-loving pollinator garden will be a long term benefit. I hope most of you will come to agree.
Carol Buelow
