Greening of Detroit plants Christmas tree farm in Northend Neighborhood

Greening of Detroit's latest tree nursery includes not just shade trees, but Douglas Firs as well. "This one’s a little bit different," says president Rebecca Salminen Witt. "We will grow these little trees up as Christmas trees, which will actually generate revenue for the neighborhood and fund replanting the next batch of little trees."

The nursery was planted on Oct. 3 at 600 King Street, a vacant lot in the Northend neighborhood -- where the 100 shade trees will ultimately be planted after three to five years of growth. A total of 200 trees, including those destined to become holiday decorations, were planted in total by more than 100 volunteers.

Witt hopes that a few of Greening's planned 120 nurseries around Detroit will be Christmas tree farms -- and that they might inspire budding entrepreneurs. "We hope someone might see this as a good little business for them," she says. "This is about economic development as well as vacant space redevelopment."

From an organizational standpoint, the nurseries have a big job to fill. Greening is working to some day grow all the trees they plant right here in Detroit. "It's a way to reinvest these dollars rather than sending dollars out to Iowa for trees grown out there," says Witt.

The planting was supported by the Next Detroit Neighborhood Initiative and volunteers from the Ford Business Unit of the Yazaki Corporation as well as residents from Holbrook-King and Alger Street Block Clubs. "It was nice -- folks came out on their porches and then filtered in," says Witt. "It was the perfect example of a community project."

Source: Rebecca Salminen Witt, Greening of Detroit
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh
Photo by Marvin Shaouni