Ambitious tree planting program taking root in east Fort Worth

Morris Matson tells the story about how the late, legendary Fort Worth businessman Charles Tandy once asked if the city would care for 5,000 cherry trees if he planted them along the banks of the Trinity River near downtown.

Tandy wanted to plant the trees to honor his wife, whose health was failing, the story goes.

“I told him I thought it could be done,” said Matson, a former assistant city manager. “We stood in the corner of his office and looked out at the Trinity and began to dream about what it would mean for the city to have such an artistic living sculpture.”

Mr. Tandy died suddenly in 1978 after making the request, and the tree project never happened. In fact, Matson said he never shared the story until a couple of years ago, when he told Fort Worth commercial real estate broker Jerry Barton.

Barton said he knew right away it was “an idea that should not be lost.”

And it wasn’t. Barton, a member of the East Fort Worth Inc. board, pitched the idea to his colleagues when the city began widening East First Street to become a new connector from the east side into the central business district. It was the perfect area to plant the large number of trees, he said.

The 2-year-old organization, established to improve the business climate on the east side, embraced the project — with a few tweaks.

The trees won’t be planted on the river banks. Rather they’ll go in the medians and along the road sides on the more than five miles of Randol Mill Road and East First Street that stretches from Loop 820 into downtown. More will go along Oakland Boulevard and Beach Street, from Interstate 30 north to East First Street.

“We started with just the idea, and it has progressed from an idea to people that are willing to work on the idea,” Barton said. “Everyone we tell about it gets excited about it. It’s the first project I’ve worked on in my life that nobody said it’s not a good idea.”

Called Eastside Blossoms, the program calls for planting only blooming trees, and it will include some cherry trees. And the initial number of trees is 2,000, not the 5,000 Tandy envisioned. The group wants to raise about $1.2 million for the project, but some property owners are donating and planting trees themselves, Barton said.

So far, three trees are in the ground and another 17 are planned for January.

Barton said he recently learned that Nolan Catholic High School will participate and is ready to buy 65 Texas Redbuds to plant along Oakland Boulevard near the school. Nolan is just east of Oakland Boulevard along Interstate 30.

Erin Vader, Nolan’s president, said the trees will be planted and maintained by their students, becoming an outdoor learning lab for those studying in its ecology program. The school has applied for a private education grant to fund the program, she said.

Vader said she’s hoping Nolan’s tree planting will jump-start the east side beautification project.

“Since I went to high school here, I’ve been familiar with the area for a long time,” Vader said. “It’s due.”

The group is hoping the thousands of trees that will mature in the coming years will make the city’s east side a showcase, much like the cherry blossoms famous to Washington, D.C.’s tidal basin. Barton also likened the program to Trees of Houston, a nonprofit project that has seen more than 516,000 trees planted in and around Houston since 1987.

From seedling to planting

The program has been in its planning stages for several months, during which the group worked with city and local master gardeners and arborists. In their research, the group learned the cherry tree takes a lot of water and care, and the group wanted to expand the selection of trees that could withstand drought and Texas heat.

The list includes Texas and Mexican redbuds, Mexican plum, desert willow, American smoke tree, Eve’s Necklace and the golden rain tree, as well as Kwanza and Yoshino cherry trees.

Paul Kerpoe, a member of East Fort Worth Inc., recently planted the first two trees, a golden rain and a Mexican plum, on Craig Street, and former City Councilman Danny Scarth has planted a Texas redbud.

In the next couple of weeks, real estate investor Ruth Walker and Barton will plant 16 Kwanza cherry trees in the 6200 and 6300 blocks of Randol Mill Road, and one on Handley Drive. The tree sites are staked out. Walker is also installing an irrigation system to make sure the trees get the water they need.

Changing image of east Fort Worth

East Fort Worth Inc. was formed in 2011 from grassroots efforts started by the East Fort Worth Business Association, which wanted to develop a vision for the city’s east side. Neighborhood and business groups, the various chambers of commerce, and city and civic leaders met regularly for a year setting the organization’s goals.

It published a 30-page economic development plan, with job recruitment being the biggest, over-arching goal. But Scarth said the group was told it should also work on improving east Fort Worth’s image.

“The dissatisfaction that occurred at the end of the ’70s and ’80s, when everyone was leaving to the suburbs … I think there were some who complained so heatedly that people began to believe it. We became our own worst enemy. We need to reverse that trend.”

The tree project is a start, Scarth said.

Barton said the group has a long way to go in asking all the property owners on Randol Mill Road to participate. Barton said he has commitments from a developer and others to farm trees for the project. They’ve also raised $2,100 to date.

“Some will likely say no, but this project is not going to end this week, this month or this year. It’s a longtime deal,” Barton said. “What we want is when you drive through east Fort Worth you realize it’s different. When people see results, they will be more willing to donate. Eastside Blossoms will become Fort Worth Blossoms.”

This story was originally published December 19, 2015 at 9:56 PM with the headline "Ambitious tree planting program taking root in east Fort Worth."