Rehoboth Beach’s Delaware Avenue gets 38 new trees
Rehoboth Beach prides itself on having been considered a Tree City USA since the late 1980s. With that in mind, and holding itself accountable, the city recently planted 38 trees on Delaware Avenue in response to removing a number of trees as part of expanding the Delaware Avenue comfort station.
Last year during the off-season, the city added two family rooms and seven changing rooms to the street-facing side of the comfort station. To make space for the extra rooms, the building expanded west, and trees had to be removed.
City Arborist Liz Lingo said the city had always planned to replant the total number of inches lost. It worked out that the city could fully stock Delaware Avenue with street trees, she said.
“Rehoboth has always valued its trees, and we are proud to have been recognized as a Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation as far back as 1988,” Lingo said. “This project affirms the city’s commitment to our tree canopy, while beautifying and improving our environment.”
Lingo said the trees were split evenly between the two blocks, with lilac trees chosen for the ocean block and golden raintrees for the second block. They are flowering trees that survive coastal exposure and grow in small spaces without infrastructure damage, she said.
“While these trees can live for around 50 years in perfect conditions, we can expect about half that. Life as a street tree near the ocean is difficult,” she said.
In addition to simply planting the trees, Lingo said both species chosen aren’t used much around the city, which means the selection also increases the diversity and resiliency of the city’s tree canopy.
Lingo said the project was about $20,000 and funded through donations to the commemorative tree fund and a grant from the Delaware Forest Service. Additionally, the city’s trees and green infrastructure committee was instrumental in project funding, inception and planning, she said.
Moving forward, Lingo said, the trees will be watered by the contractor the first two years, and there will be a young-tree training prune in year two or three. Then they go into the regular maintenance cycle in terms of annual inspections and pruning, she said.
Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories and random stories on subjects he finds interesting, and he also writes a column called Choppin’ Wood that runs every other week. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.
