Those who attended the City’s Arbor Day celebration in Westridge gardens last week were all given free white milkwood trees to take home – but they came with a warning. The trees are a protected species and once planted they cannot be cut down without the City’s permission.
The milkwood is the tree of the year. Every year the national government picks a tree to spotlight for Arbor Day and this year the hardy milkwood is the star of the show, said City arborist Altus de Wet.
De Wet was addressing a crowd of residents and City staff under a ring of milkwoods in Westridge Gardens on Wednesday 3 September.
“I sense a very green spirit in this place,” said De Wet before listing facts about the indigenous tree and how to care for it.
“The milkwood is well-adapted to the Cape Peninsula, especially the coastal areas,” he said. “It prefers sandy soil.”
The tree is also well-adapted to wind and is resistant to the shot hole borer beetle which has devastated thousands of trees in the city, De Wet said.
“It might be one of our saving graces,” he said.
The tree has medicinal benefits and produces white flowers that become edible berries, De Wet said, adding that it can grow for hundreds of years.
Arboral legacy
Susan Steyn, the City’s head ecologist, said the event was also to honour parks and recreation staff.
“The work you do really leaves a legacy,” she said. “For hundreds of years the trees you plant will still be here. The trees you plant are not for yourself, it’s for the generations of the future.”
Wayne Steyn, the superintendent at Westridge Gardens, also acknowledged the staff.
He added that the park now has rangers because of criminal activities that had been taking place.
“There was sexual activity and people were being robbed,” he said. “But we are changing that around now.”
Several city staff from other areas commended the garden and one councillor told Ashley Potts she was “jealous”.
Potts, the ward councillor for the area, said a lot of work had gone into the garden but there was still more to be done.
Francine Higham echoed the sentiment saying: “There’s something special here.”
“Trees have environmental benefits, but they also just make people happy,” she said.
She said the City was planting lots of trees as part of the mayoral beautification project.
Residents could apply for trees in their areas as part of the project.
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