Carthay Circle Residents Toast Their Trees

Residents of Carthay Circle gathered at twilight Tuesday evening for a champagne toast to their new Chinese Elm trees recently planted on Commander Sloat Drive just west of Foster Street.  Carthay Circle resident and board member Ann Rubin, who chairs the association’s beautification committee,  provided all the fixings delivered in an wheelbarrow for her neighbors to toast a long life for the new trees.

Kudos to Carthay Circle residents who have been showing some much needed love to their street trees lately.

Between the long standing drought and insects, street trees all over the City are in jeopardy. A recent story in the Los Angeles Times reported on the disappearance of LA’s iconic palms.

“But the trees, so identified with the sun-splashed excitement of Los Angeles, are facing a decidedly darker fate. They are dying of fatal fungus and under threat of invasive insects in parks and along streets. And for the most part, the city has chosen to replace them not with new palms but with native trees that are more drought-tolerant and shadier, said Leon Borodinsky, a tree surgeon for the department of Recreation and Parks,” reported the Times.

Amidst the dire news about street trees, we are happy to report on the bright spots like Carthay Circle where residents like Kent and Jai Wong have redone their front yard to conserve water and promise to take of the new tree that was planted in front of their house along with 6 others on the block.  Jai designed the garden herself taking queues from the existing foundation plantings and the architecture of their historic home.

So here’s to the street trees and their neighborhood stewards — “live long and prosper” — so our neighborhoods will too!