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GROSSE POINTE CITY — Students and Grosse Pointe City officials are working together to make the community more welcoming for butterflies.
To mark Arbor Day, Grosse Pointe City Forester Brian Colter and City Urban Forestry Commission member Alaine Bush met with Maire Elementary School teacher Sarah Neely and a group of second grade students from the school’s Green Team to plant a tulip tree outside the school April 25. Green Team members are in charge of recycling at their school.
Bush said the tulip tree “is the key host plant for the swallowtail (butterfly).”
Caterpillars eat tulip tree leaves, Colter said.
“It’s the tallest-growing tree in Michigan,” Colter said. “The Green Team requested it because it’s pollinator friendly.”
Students at Maire have been studying swallowtail butterflies.
Although the tulip tree was planted relatively close to an ash tree, Colter said that was done on purpose. He said the ash tree was diseased and needed to be removed.
“I’m planting (this) replacement tree proactively,” Colter told the students.
Colter said the City would be planting more trees in the area, including the white oak, which “is very pollinator friendly” and supports 900 different species of caterpillars.
“You’re really going to have a nice little pollinator stretch here,” Colter said of the area around the school.
It’s news welcomed by Maire students and staff.
“We have a butterfly garden on the other corner (of the school property), and we’ll benefit” from these trees, Neely said.
Each student took a turn covering the new tree’s roots with dirt. Then, even though it was raining, they poured water at the base of the trunk.
“Watering’s really the most important thing to do for a new tree,” Colter said.
Mulch was placed around the base of the tree for a few reasons. Colter said the mulch moderates soil temperatures, so it doesn’t get too hot or too cold, and it also creates a physical barrier so that when landscapers are cutting or trimming the grass, they don’t hit or nick the trunk.
This year marks Colter’s 30th anniversary as a forester in the Grosse Pointes.
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