Friends of McCormick Park volunteer Adopt-A-Tree program has helped keep the park’s newly planted trees alive through their precarious first few years when their root systems are still shallow.

Volunteers signed up for a specific young tree and from spring to fall made sure it got five gallons of water each week when there’d been insufficient rainfall.

BACKGROUND

In 2011 the City of Toronto planted 24 new trees at McCormick Park. Unfortunately a number of them died as they were left without adequate care throughout the very dry summer. (It takes three to five years for the saplings to develop deep enough root systems to survive a lack of rainfall.) It became clear that we couldn’t count on the City to take care of these young trees during their first years of crucial root development. We heard of how Trinity Bellwoods successfully started an adopt-a-tree model and we decided to replicate it so that the young trees planted can form the succession to some of the older shade trees in the park. You can read an article about us here.

Thanks to everyone who participated. You can always help out in the future bye watering trees during dry periods.

WHAT’S INVOLVED

• five gallons (23L) of water a week from June to October
• weeding around the tree’s base to avoid competition for the water
• spring and/or fall mulching which helps slow water evaporation, prevents the mowers from damaging the bark and keeps the weeds down.