By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
There will be no more palm trees gently swaying in the seashore breezes.
Sea Isle City is switching from tropical palm trees to long-lasting crepe myrtles to spruce up the main entryway into town.
Altogether, 38 crepe myrtles featuring beautiful pink blossoms will adorn the John F. Kennedy Boulevard corridor this summer.
“Crepe myrtles are well known as a tree that can sustain itself along the Jersey Shore,” city spokeswoman Katherine Custer said in an interview Wednesday.
Sea Isle has struggled to find the right types of trees that are hardy enough to withstand the punishing winds and salt air.
Previously, the city experimented with trident maples and sweetbay magnolias to beautify the JFK Boulevard gateway. However, they fared poorly in the shore’s salty and windy environment. Many of them died off or were reduced to scraggly, leafless skeletons – hardly leaving a good first impression on visitors arriving in Sea Isle.
In a bit of whimsy, Sea Isle replaced the maples and magnolias last summer with 40 palm trees. With their vibrant green fronds swaying in the breezes during the summer, they created a tropical-like setting reminiscent of Florida or the Caribbean islands.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio made it clear when the delicate palm trees were planted just before the Memorial Day weekend that they were only a temporary way to dress up the JFK Boulevard entranceway and likely would not survive the winter.
The palm trees eventually turned brown and died off in the cold weather.
Predictably, the once-silky green leaves turned brown and crusty as the weather became cold. The trees died off in winter. The final blow was a colossal coastal storm on Jan. 3 that dumped more than a foot of snow on Sea Isle and left the palms smothered in an icy, white coating.
During their brief reign in Sea Isle, the palm trees were the source of intense public debate over whether they were worth the $8,000 that the city paid to buy them from a Florida grower.
Comments posted on social media suggested that the public either loved or hated the palms. Some people thought they added a touch of the tropics in Sea Isle, while others claimed they were a waste of money.
Custer said the city has decided not to bring back the palms, choosing the crepe myrtles instead because of their reputation as a robust tree that can adapt to the seashore environment.
“While we loved the palm trees, we’re looking for trees that we will have for years to come,” she said of the crepe myrtles. “We anticipate they will do well.”
The city consulted with several landscaping experts and was told that the wide-open, east-west corridor along JFK Boulevard makes it especially difficult for many species of trees to survive at the shore.
Custer noted that crepe myrtles can be found in many private gardens at homes around town, underscoring their history of doing well on the barrier island.
“We anticipate they will be a very nice addition to our entrance corridor,” she said.
The trees, supplied by the city's Environmental Commission through T-shirt sales over multiple years, will be planted in the next week and formally dedicated on April 29 during Sea Isle’s Arbor Day celebration.
Crepe myrtles similar to this one planted outside the library in memory of former Sea Isle resident Marlene McHale will beautify the JFK Boulevard gateway.
