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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Robert Welsch
Westover Landscape Design, Inc.
149 Neperan Road
Tarrytown, NY 10591
Phone: 914-631-6836
E-mail: Robert@WestoverLD.com
NEW NATIVE PLANTINGS ENHANCE NEGLECTED BARNEY BROOK IN IRVINGTON FOR EARTH DAY 40TH ANNIVERSARY
Tarrytown, NY - April 30, 2010.
In Irvington, a handful of neighborhood volunteers and local environmentalists joined Westover Landscape Design to do their part to uphold the grassroots spirit of Earth Day in honor of its 40th anniversary by joining together to beautify a public space on the banks of Barney Brook. A small strip of Village-owned land along the east side of Buckhout Street near Station Road is bounded on one side by a steep slope down to the brook and by the sidewalk on the other. The land opens out into a small area by the dam with a rustic low stone wall. Westover Landscape Design worked with the Irvington Tree Commission and the Earth Day 40 organizers to coordinate and plant 6 new native trees and large shrubs with a general clean-up of the area. Irvington's DPW Department Head, Greg Nielsen, came by to thank the community volunteers and Westover for their efforts, saying: "It's really great that Westover is doing this for the Village, we really appreciate it."
Neighbors from the Spiro Park Neighborhood Association and from the Irvington Tree Commission, who were put to work with the Westover Landscape Design crew digging out invasive knotweed and raking up debris from the edge of the stream bank. We planted a Pink Dogwood (Cornus florida), an unusual and sought-after multi-stemmed form of Redbud (Cercis canadensis), two Vernal Witchazel shrubs (Hamamelis vernalis) and two multistemmed Shad trees (Amelanchier canadensis 'Autumn Brilliance'). These trees and large shrubs were chosen by Westover staff because of their multi-season interest, with flowers from late winter (Witchhazel) though mid-spring (Dogwood), different sizes and textures of foliage, berries to provide food for the birds and beautiful fall foliage colors. Ann Acheson, a certified arborist and landscape designer with Westover Landscape Design, designed and managed the effort explained: "These trees are all native to an edge-of-the-woodland habitat, so they're ideally suited for their new location." She added, "Westover Landscape Design is dedicated to giving back to our communities in the way that we do best - with expertise, hard work and a passion for making the world a more beautiful place. We are delighted to be able to help beautify public areas by planting trees."
In addition, Westover cleared the area by the low stone wall and added stonedust to provide a stable and weed-free surface so that people can enjoy the brook and the water flowing over the dam. The new trees were mulched with the exclusive Westover mixture of Stone Barns compost and mulch to promote soil health.
Irvington Village Trustee Connie Kehoe and Tree Commission Chairman Mark Gilliland also joined the beautification efforts. Kehoe is the Trustee Liaison to the Irvington Tree Commission and was instrumental in bringing everyone together to get the job done. Kehoe commented: "I love being outside", even though a chilly wind whipped up from the Hudson River, and made sure to learn the names of the trees and encourage the volunteers. Mark Gilliland is spearheading Irvington's efforts to plant new street trees throughout the Village. Also the chairman of Greenburgh's LORAX policy taskforce on transmission line and distribution line vegetative management policies, he has had a number of recent interactions with Con Ed and persuaded them to donate some of the trees that were planted at Barney Brook. Irvington's DPW contributed the rest of the trees.
ABOUT WESTOVER LANDSCAPE DESIGN, Inc.:
Westover Landscape Design is a full service design-build landscaping firm located in Tarrytown, NY serving Westchester and Fairfield counties. To find out more about us and see examples of our designs, visit our website at www.WestoverLD.com.
Arbor day cleanup volunteers Irvington Village Trustee Connie Kehoe and Westover's Ann Acheson (and crew)
(Click image to download a high resolution version)
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