Plantlife Coming to H Street

The following email went out on the ANC 6A listserv, but I thought it was worth reporting here. I took the liberty of adding info links to give people a better idea of what to expect.

Good morning, everyone….With the blizzard swirling all around us, we thought you might enjoy the promise of spring with this report of the new trees selected for planting in the Benning Road and H Street Reconstruction Projects.


Tree-planting is one of the last steps in the reconstruction process. On Benning Road, where construction was substantially completed from 16th Street to Oklahoma Avenue in mid-December 2009, tree-planting began about four weeks ago and is scheduled for completion by the end of the current winter tree-planting season. On H Street, project completion is scheduled in August 2011, so tree-planting cannot begin for quite some time yet. As set forth in the specifications for each project, lists of the trees to be planted are shown below.


In addition, contract specifications require certain, specific actions to preserve and protect existing trees from being damaged by nearby construction activities. Six-foot-high chain link fencing is installed and maintained around each tree designated for preservation. The storage of equipment or debris within the fencing, or leaning against it from the outside, is prohibited. The storage of gasoline or other hazardous materials within 50 feet of the trees is prohibited.


Trees and shrubs (241) being planted – Benning Road project.


Trees (85):


46 Japanese lilacs (syringa reticulata)


23 Sawtooth oaks (quercus acutissima)


7 Liberty elms (ulmus americana “liberty”)


9 American elms (ulmus americana “princeton”)


Shrubs (156):


69 Creeping junipers (juniper horizontals)


87 Little bluestem grasses (andropogon scoparius)


In addition, 11,156 groundcover plants are being planted in the new planter boxes in the new Benning Road medians – 5,984 Monroe white liriopes (liriope muscari “monroe white”) and 5,172 periwinkles (vinca minor). Many of the trees and shrubs also are designated for the median planter boxes.


Trees (214) scheduled for planting – H Street project. (Trees will be planted in the sidewalk tree boxes. There are no roadway medians with planter boxes in the H Street project.)


26 Tartarian maples (acer tartarium)


38 Kentucky coffee trees (gymnocladus dioica)


18 Black tupelos (nyssa sylvatica)


38 London plane trees (platanus x. acerifolia)


38 Swamp white oaks (quercus bicolors)


18 Willow oaks (quercus phellos)


38 Chinese elms (ulmus parvifolia, emer i. allee)