Van Ness is getting a tree box makeover

by Marlene Berlin

Van Ness Main Street is beautifying the neighborhood one tree box at a time.

VNMS members are working on upgrading many of the neglected tree boxes on Connecticut Avenue at Van Ness. They spent the first Saturday in July planting flowers in the tree box in front of Acacia Bistro and the Van Ness Main Street office at 4340 Connecticut Avenue. They used $258 dollars in materials donated by Sally Gresham, a board member and a co-chair of the VNMS Design Committee, and Kathy Sykes, a member of the committee and her husband, Steve Vetzner.

They chose native perennials to create a pollinator garden that will attract bees, birds and butterflies.

VNMS volunteers planted gray French lavender, white coneflowers, blanket flowers, Snowcap Shasta daisies and moneywort, also known as creeping jenny. (photo courtesy of Sally Gresham)

“Our VNMS gardening goal along Connecticut Avenue is to become a ‘pollinator corridor,’ Gresham told us in an email. Ultimately, she says, the Main Street wants to install native plants in the public space tree boxes, in proposed community gardens such as the mini park behind WAMU at Windom Place, and on containers on commercial properties and public alleys.

Steve Vetzner, Sally Gresham and Kathy Sykes with their creation.

This is not Kathy Sykes’ first tree box project. You can see the fruits of her labors alongside the Ponce de Leon co-op at 4514 Connecticut Avenue. For the past few years she’s enlisted the help of neighbors and passersby, young and old, and new and experienced gardeners.

Kathy Sykes and a young helper in the Ponce de Leon tree box garden in 2016.

Van Ness Main Street also needs volunteers to meet the challenge of keep these plants alive during these grueling hot months. Watering is crucial. Contact Theresa Cameron at [email protected] to sign up.