Tree and Shrub Planting 

January 2024

As part of an ongoing process to increase carbon capture through increased tree and shrub cover and reduce the lawn area on the campus, Cedar Ridge Nursery donated eight 12’ - trees and the labor to plant them. This is the second donation from this Nursery of which we are very appreciative. The trees were planted in Division A (along Germantown Pike) of the 1845 cemetery behind the Main School building. Tree species that were received: White Oak, Sycamore, sugar Maple, 3- Hornbean, Ostrya Hophornbeam. Strole down to the graveyard and have a look this spring.  This planting was the next step is the continual process to reduce the amount of grass that requires mowing on the campus and increase the biodiversity of the planting.

Eleventh Month, 2022

Stewardship of the land that the Monthly Meeting has responsibility for requires a long view. What we do with the land needs to benefit those of many generations into the future. Planting of trees is one action that bears fruits for generations to come. This week a very generous gift was made to our Monthly Meeting by Cedar Ridge Nursery of ten trees: 3 Sugar Maples, 1 Holly, 1 American Beech, 2 White Oaks, 1 Hickory, 1 Hackberry, 1 Coffee. The nursery staff delivered the trees, dug their holes for planting, planted, fertilized, and mulched the trees all as a gift to our Meeting and School.

One of the sugar Maples was planted in the play yard replacing a Maple that was removed last year. That tree was installed as a memorial to Jack McGovern, a former head of Plymouth Meeting Friends School. The children of the school have already named the tree Ribbon after the white and blue ribbon hanging from its limb that flutters in the breeze. In true Plymouth Hospitality they introduced Ribbon to Sanders (the hollow Sycamore), Mary (the large pasture Maple) and Jake (not sure who that is). They did not want Ribbon to be lonely on her first night in a new home. The students remember being scared on their first day of school and therefore wanted Ribbon to feel welcome and not scared.

There are 7 donated trees planted on the rise of ground in front of the Meeting House. These trees are the beginning of returning that area to a more natural state that better supports the world both big and small. Two additional trees were planted in the graveyard. An oak to replace the large pine oak that was taken down 10 years go under the watchful eye of Dick Kimber who so lovingly cared for the property and particularly the graveyard. Perhaps this tree is Dick’s tree. It is located along the lane between the swale and the south east side of Division H of the graveyard.  The second tree, a hickory was planted in the same place as was a tree removed many years ago due to wind damage. That tree was a memorial tree for Alice Ambler, the last plain- speaking elder of our Meeting, who was the Meeting's heart and conscious. We thought it fitting to put in a replacement tree for her.