Moving from Spring Blooms to Summer Annuals. Our spring bulbs were a success again this year. The earliest bloomers cheered us peeking out of the snow tipping us off that winter was on the way out and that early tulips, late tulips, lilies and other blooms weren’t far behind. See photographs below of the orange tulips in bloom.

Summer Annuals. In June, Begonia “Dragon Wing Red” and Begonia “Big Rose Green Leaf” — red and pink Begonias were planted for summer flowering. Lariope Variegata was also added. The Begonias withstand the hot and dry conditions.

You may have observed the spring/summer work being done on our tree wells. It’s a big job done over time in changeable weather conditions. But a lot goes on behind the scenes. Deciding which plants will work in the different conditions of twenty odd tree wells has been a consideration over the years. Winter clean up and prep of the compacted soil for planting is another “dirty job”. When the order arrives, a couple gardeners drive to Long Island, pick up our order and deliver it to 11th Street (and find places to stash the order). Once the tree wells are prepped, planting is done over about two weeks. Thank you Cindy at Urban Gardener and helpers.

Summer Watering. We recently arranged for watering, as needed, for June through September. Watering is a challenge as the waterer needs to move up and down both sides of the street doing the best we can to work with neighbors who generously permit use of their outdoor faucets for watering their tree wells.

Some Good News. The sidewalk shed at #15 is nearly removed after a couple of years. Supply shortages and delivery delays held up the work on the facade. Now we will give the deprived trees some TLC and nurse them back to health.

Improvement Project — Refurbishment of Tree Surrounds. This year we are arranging for refurbishment of the tree surrounds. Many of you will remember our “Adopt-A-Tree” project when we asked neighbors to take ownership of the tree at their front and donate funds to replace the mismatched and damaged tree surrounds. That was 2002 — 20 years ago! Of the 17 building owners back then, 12 owners either partially or fully funded a tree well.

Happily, the attractive custom crafted cast iron tree surrounds have fared pretty well. Since 2002, the Block Association has had the surrounds prepped, repaired and painted every few years for care and maintenance. Now some are badly corroded and it’s time for a major overhaul. That’s this year’s summer/fall project. We’re hoping to do the best we can to lessen the impact of inflation, labor shortages and supply chain interruptions in scheduling this work.

We would be grateful for your donations to help us pay for this undertaking.

Enjoy the summer, and thank you for your support.