By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Sea Isle City’s Environmental Commission is looking to add some green to the town. A dash of lime, pink and cream, too.
Altogether, the result is expected to be a canopy of green leaves and branches bursting with lime, pink and cream-colored flowers.
Just in time for spring, the Environmental Commission is planning to raffle off 30 free trees to local property owners to help beautify the resort.
“They’re not little saplings. They’re 6-foot trees,” said Annette Lombardo, who chairs the commission.
Raffle winners may choose from the following varieties of trees: Dapple willow, limelight hydrangea, crepe myrtle and little gem magnolia.
Depending on the variety, the trees are known for producing pink, cream and lime green flowers starting in the spring and lasting into fall.
Winners will be selected during a random drawing on Sunday, May 16, and will be notified by phone. Entry forms can be found at Env Commssion TREE RAFFLE 2019.pdf (seaislecitynj.us).
Lombardo explained that the Environmental Commission’s landscaper will deliver and plant the trees for free.
“There’s absolutely no cost. It’s all from the Environmental Commission. It’s free,” Lombardo said.
She noted that it would normally cost a homeowner $250 per tree if they had to pick up the cost.
There is one obligation for the winners, though: They are responsible for the watering and maintenance of their new trees.
The Environmental Commission held its first tree giveaway in 2019, but was forced to cancel it last year because of the pandemic.
Twenty trees were raffled off in 2019. After the raffle was canceled in 2020, the commission decided to increase the number to 30 trees for this year.
“It’s a positive thing that they are giving away more trees,” city spokeswoman Katherine Custer said.
Of the 20 trees that were raffled off in 2019, about 90 percent of them are still alive, helping to add a touch of green throughout town, Lombardo pointed out.
“They (the property owners) were very happy,” she said. “They liked the idea. They didn’t have to plant the trees themselves. They just have to water them.”
Meanwhile, Sea Isle plans to work with its landscaping contractor to replace dying trees along the John F. Kennedy Boulevard entryway and the Landis Avenue corridor downtown.
Currently, some of those trees lining JFK Boulevard are little more than scraggly and leafless skeletons. Some were simply dormant for winter, but others are dying or dead.
“They will look into whether they can save them,” Custer said of the contractor.
Altogether, 40 trident maples were planted along both sides of the JFK Boulevard entrance and 35 sweetbay magnolias were added to the Landis Avenue corridor in the downtown business district between 39th and 43rd streets as part of a $98,000 beautification project in 2019.
It is not immediately known how many trees have died, Custer said. However, the magnolias are under warranty until May 2021 and the maples until November 2021, according to Sea Isle’s municipal website.
The shore’s harsh environment – the salt air and blustery winter conditions – make it hard for some trees to survive. Ironically, the trident maples and sweetbay magnolias were touted as being salt-tolerant and conducive for the seashore environment when they were planted in 2019.
The maples and magnolias had replaced scrawny and dead trees that were leftovers from Sea Isle’s multimillion-dollar “Beach to Bay” beautification of JFK Boulevard completed in 2013. A series of road, landscaping, safety and municipal projects were added to the central corridor stretching from the city’s marina to the beachfront Promenade over a five-year span.
