Orchard People

#004 Know Your Fruit Tree's Name with Jason Adkins, and Brown Turkey Fig Trees in Philly with Erica Smith Fichman
[00:00:00] Introduction to Nature and Gardening
Susan Poizner: It feels like just yesterday that I started to learn more about nature and gardening. Today I work with fruit trees, but growing up I knew nothing about plants. Then, I couldn't even identify common trees like oaks or serviceberries.
All trees looked the same to me when I was young. Over the years, I learned a lot more. I became a gardener and I studied landscape design. And, in my favorite course, I learned tree identification. So I had to memorize the botanical names of each type of tree, and I had to learn to identify that tree just by looking at its bark branches, leaves, and buds.
[00:00:41] Guest Introduction: Jason Adkins
Susan Poizner: My first guest today believes that, when we learn the botanical names of trees, we can connect with them better. He is Jason Adkins, the Environmental Projects Coordinator at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee. So I'll talk to him in the first half of the show. Now, there are some trees that most of us can recognize and identify at a glance. And that's fruit trees, of course, especially if it's harvest time and they're filled with ripe and yummy fruit.
In the second half of the show, I'm going to talk to Erica Smith of Philadelphia Parks and Recreation. She heads their popular TreePhilly giveaway program, and she'll explain why fruit trees are at the top of local residents' free tree wishlist.
But first, let's chat with Jason Adkins of Trevecca Nazarene University, and he's on the line right now. Hi Jason, welcome to the show today.
Jason Adkins: Hi, Susan. Thank you.
Susan Poizner: Thanks.
Jason Adkins: Good to be here.
Susan Poizner: Thanks. Oh, it's great to have you on the show. And I'm really curious, we're gonna be talking a lot about the trees on your campus.
Before we start, can you tell me, are there quite a lot of trees, and what's the history of the trees on the campus?
[00:01:57] History of Trees on Campus
Jason Adkins: We have a 70 acre campus, and we have 240 of those trees that are on the campus labeled. But, there are a few hundred more that are on the outlying areas where we haven't yet labeled them.
So we do have a lot of trees. I think it's a really lovely canopy we have around here.
Susan Poizner: So what's the history? Who are the first people that started to plant those trees on the site?
Jason Adkins: Some of the really beautiful trees were here when the university arrived in the forties. But over the years, they were planted for different reasons.
A fruit orchard was planted here for food in the forties. The university students had a farm that they worked here that provided a lot of the food for the campus. And so, our recent activity in restarting an urban farm connects with a past that dates back to the beginnings of its time here on this spot.
But then, one of the interesting parts of our tree history is that, Homer Adams was a former president in the seventies who really loved trees and planted a lot of them. Some of those trees he received from a nurseryman who paid for his daughter's tuition in trees. And so, a lot of the trees that were given to him in exchange for his daughter's education are still here growing and are really lovely.
Susan Poizner: That's fantastic. I bet you people on who are listening to the show are thinking, Hey, maybe I can pay for my education in trees. Does your university still accept trees as payment?
Jason Adkins: That would be a great question.
Susan Poizner: You're not the person to ask, is that what you're saying? We'll have to negotiate with somebody else.
Jason Adkins: That sounds very fair to me.
Susan Poizner: So we're gonna talk about the fruit orchards. I find that very interesting that there is a long history of fruit trees on the site.
Because today, it's become trendy for university campuses to plant fruit trees, when I don't think it was in the forties.
But first, I just wanna talk about the canopy in general.
[00:04:03] Tree Identification and Importance
Susan Poizner: Now we're gonna be talking about names of trees. What are some of the different names of trees that are common there in Tennessee? That are on the campus, of course.
Jason Adkins: We have a lot of oak, mulberry, pine. We have a real variety of hickories and pecans and, in the recent years, we've planted a lot of fruit trees.
That's been a focus for the campus, along with some hardwoods as well. Some more oaks, some chestnut. American chestnut has been a tree that we've planted here, and also Chinese chestnut. We've planted about 80 different fruit trees around campus in the past five years, with a wide variety of cultivars and types of fruit, so we have a good diverse mix of trees here on campus.
Susan Poizner: That sounds wonderful. So the climate is good for this kind of growing?
Jason Adkins: Yes, it is. It supports a wide range of plants, some of which are on their southernmost growing zone, and some of which are on the northernmost.
Susan Poizner: All right. So I looked online, and it sounds to me like it's actually officially an arboretum on the site. Is that the case? What does that mean?
Jason Adkins: Yes. Different states have different ways of certifying Arboretums. Our Tennessee Urban Forestry Council certified our arboretum, and there are different levels that one can achieve on a given property.
And we're a level two arboretum for planting 60 different species of trees on our campus, which we already had, and we continue to plant new species and trying to get maybe to the next level. For level three, we'd need 90 trees. And we have a map of the arboretum available at our alumni center.
And we also have an online map. We have about, as I said, 200, I think 240 trees right now labeled, with their common names in their botanical names.
Susan Poizner: So why is that important to you? Why really is it important that when people stroll around and look at the trees that they know exactly what they are, or even the Latin names for them?
Jason Adkins: Yeah. I really connected with what you said about growing up not knowing the names of the trees around me, and to me as well. It was just green and I didn't discern any differences between one tree and another. My grandma grew up knowing all the names of the trees and the names of all the birds, which I always admired, and my stepfather does as well.
It was in my adulthood that I became interested in gardening and farming, and learning the names of the trees was a real practice in getting to know my neighbors. And knowing a neighbor, when you know their name, it changes the relationship you have to that person.
And the same thing happened with trees is when I knew the names of the trees I was looking at, there was a different and closer relationship that developed between me and my love of trees. It's really an exercise in getting to know our neighbors, both for beginning with myself, because I'm not an arborist.
I learned these trees as I labeled them, alongside other arborists that were helping us identify them. And that really led into a real exciting relationship to be able to just drive along or walk along a place and just being able to oh, that's not just a tree. That's a red oak or that's a swamp oak, or that's a white pine, and knowing how to identify the different ones.
Susan Poizner: I really resonate with that. I feel it's so important for myself and I hear that you feel the same way. But when you have volunteers or others coming to the campus, do you know that those little plaques are making any difference whatsoever?
How do you know that's helping people?
Jason Adkins: I'm also a teacher on the campus, so I ask. And certain students will say they have enjoyed having those around and learning the names of the different trees around campus. So it's just anecdotally that I hear people that they're excited to be able to learn how to identify these trees.
Susan Poizner: That's fantastic. Years ago in the park where I grow my fruit trees, we actually developed a beautiful tree tour where children could come and they were looking for evidence of which tree is which, and it was like a treasure hunt for trees. It was a lot of fun.
Jason Adkins: Yes, we do something similar. We have a scavenger hunt using the cell phones, and they have to come back and identify a certain number of trees. So that's good fun.
Susan Poizner: It is good fun.
Okay, in 2013, something new and interesting happened, and I know that was the year you guys were certified with the Toyota Arbor Day Foundation's Tree Campus USA program.
What does that mean and what did that involve?
Jason Adkins: So this is another certification that the Arbor Day uses to hold up as examples of campuses that are doing things they'd like to see us do, which is a commitment to planting trees. Both protecting the existing urban forest or a rural forest, if a campus happens to be in the country, but a commitment to dedicating dollars and efforts and volunteer projects wherein new trees are planted. And we found out about it, and it really dovetailed with our present commitments and we'd already gotten our arboretum status. From there, we just needed to write some certain documentation, which McKenzie Cox here did a lot of work on in our prior operations, and just solidify that commitment to dedicating event days and dollars, every year, to planting more trees.
Susan Poizner: And why is that meaningful? Why is it great for the campus?
Jason Adkins: It both connects to a present commitment by the administration. Our vice president David Caldwell and our President Dan Boone are both real lovers of gardens and trees.
And that connection, that commitment, shouldn't just end with their tenure at the university. It should be connected to the fabric of who we are as an institution. So it really connects it less to just the personalities that happen to be in charge, and creates an ongoing commitment across administrations and people that come and go from the university.
Susan Poizner: That makes a lot of sense to me. It motivates people to keep moving forward rather than taking what's on campus for granted, and to continually plant more.
[00:11:04] Urban Agriculture and Fruit Trees
Susan Poizner: So you mentioned earlier that your site has a long history of urban agriculture. Is that unusual for your part of the world? It's certainly is here.
Jason Adkins: Yes, and it was interrupted by about 50 years, so it's only recently come back. A time when gardening for self-sufficiency was quite common in the forties, especially in the World War II era, where victory gardens were held high and really provided about 30% of the nation's vegetables.
There's certainly, after the post World War increase in agricultural productivity, a lot of that dropped off to some extent. And then, there's been a resurgence of that in our area, in our generation.
Susan Poizner: Yeah, definitely. There is. Now, how has that affected your campus? So when did you guys start thinking in terms of urban agriculture on campus again?
Jason Adkins: Our campus is located adjacent to a food desert, and so, we were asking questions around how we could be helpful in our neighborhood to address food access problems. The urban farm that we have today is an answer to that question, and an ongoing attempt to teach and inspire people to grow their own food, especially from the local schools and then other neighbors as well, and people that attend camps and workshops that we hold.
And really, fruit and fruit trees are such a critical part of that because when you plant a tree and establish it, there is ongoing maintenance, but it is less maintenance than a garden. And a tree that's been established can provide food for the people in the area for a generation or maybe a lifetime.
So we're really impressed with the perennial ways of providing food like that. And it was said to be the original fast food. And we live in a place that's plagued by a lot of fast food and very little fresh food. And so we want to maybe supplant some of that with something healthy.
Susan Poizner: I love that thinking of fruit as the original fast food. That's so true. What a wonderful idea. So what you mentioned was what I know that I felt at first with fruit trees. And it is true that they are easier to care for in some ways than your vegetable plants that need weeding and watering every day and a really close eye on them.
However, fruit trees have their challenges. Have you had challenges with your fruit trees, or has it just been an easy ride for you guys since you first planted?
Jason Adkins: We've had lots of challenges. We've gotten some really good help from a local volunteer who has helped us prune the last three years, and that's something we didn't really know how to do. So that has been very helpful.
There's certain varieties that we found have been difficult to grow in our climate, such as apples. Peaches have their problems as well. And because we're a completely organic farm, we've tried to choose and multiply those varieties which are very carefree, both in our tree fruit and our bush fruit.
And so we plant less apples and more Asian pears. We plant more persimmons. Our Nanking cherries, our bush cherries, are a little easier to care for than some of our other cherries. So we've had to learn to go with what works, and then use some support plants around the tree in our permaculture approach to tree health and orchard health to create some habitat for the kind of insects that tend to help us out and the kind of herbs that tend to repel some of our problems. So yes, we have had our problems, but they've been teaching moments.
Susan Poizner: Absolutely.
[00:14:56] Companion Planting and Tree Health
Susan Poizner: So tell me a little bit more about, what sounds to me, like companion planting, planting other plants nearby that will help to protect your trees. What do you suggest? What have you been using?
Jason Adkins: Different functions are provided by different plants. Sometimes it's an insect or animal deterrent, such as chives, which are commonly planted around apples and pears and can be planted around a lot of different things.
Comfrey is an excellent plant which accumulates deep nutrients. They're called a dynamic accumulator, and then makes them available to some of the surface roots. It's also a great mulch plant, so we just chop it and drop it on the ground to suppress some of the turf competition.
Mint is wonderful to plant around the trees. It sprawls out and competes against some of the deeper rooted grasses that can compete with nutrients with the superficial roots and our fruit trees. So there are a lot that we like.
We also like planting things like alyssum and calendula that attract insects that pollinate it.
And so once the pollinators are in the neighborhood, hopefully they'll go ahead and pollinate our trees as well. So those are some of the approaches. The pollinator attractors, plants that provide fertility like comfrey, and plants that deter insects.
Susan Poizner: It's amazing. It sounds like you're looking at your orchard from a big picture perspective. It's not the sort of old fashioned rows of fruit trees and tractors going in between them and noxious sprays going on them. I guess it's a very different perspective.
Jason Adkins: Yes, we've been very inspired by Jay Russell Smith, who wrote a book called Tree Crops way back in the thirties, talking about how we needed to feed ourselves as much as possible from perennials, trees that would keep our soil in place, while we were still able to eat from them, unlike annuals, which caused a lot of erosion.
And then, more recently, Dave Jacke's books about edible forest gardens have been really inspirational. Incredibly helpful in terms of what he says, which is plant ecosystems. Don't plant trees, plant ecosystems. And so planting the support plants around the tree can be as important as planting the tree itself. And it certainly cuts down on a lot of the work we would otherwise have to do ourselves, with labor or chemicals.
Susan Poizner: It sounds like it's been a really awesome learning experience for you guys.
Jason Adkins: Yes, absolutely.
[00:17:35] Environmental Justice and Community Impact
Susan Poizner: Now, I know that you mentioned that you teach environmental justice? So in what ways are you using the trees to bring equity to your community?
Jason Adkins: Our community, as I said already, is really suffering from a lack of healthy food, which is, in some ways, considered an environmental issue.
We are one mile from downtown Nashville, and so there's a lot of traffic, there's a lot of air quality issues and water issues. And there's flooding around some of the areas in our adjacent neighborhood. All those issues can be helped or even solved by planting trees, from food access to sequestering water before it gets into the creeks and overflows the banks, to producing clean air for a neighborhood that is surrounded by a lot of traffic. All these are services that trees do for us for free, and we're happy to spread that.
We love to see these trees go into neighbor's yards or neighboring school yards where students can experience the direct access to their food. So those are some of the ways in which we try to utilize trees to elaborate justice in our area.
[00:18:51] Propagating Trees and Urban Farming
Susan Poizner: I understand you're actually propagating some of these trees that you've planted. How does that work?
Jason Adkins: That's one of the real motivations behind what we do, because we can't feed the neighborhood. That's not our intention. We really want to inspire and teach people to feed themselves and their neighbors. So our fruit stock can only go so far in terms of feeding people, but in terms of propagating trees, there's no limit to the number of trees we could produce as long as we're attending to the skills of tree propagation. That's one of our motivations and planting a really diverse fruit stock here on campus, so that we can have some nursery stock from which to propagate.
And we're amateurs at this, but the great thing is you can be an amateur and still achieve great success. So we get our YouTube videos out and our horticultural books and we figure it out, and it's a real adventure.
Susan Poizner: Oh, I bet it is. It really is. Yes, I've taken some grafting workshops and it takes a lot of confidence.
In fact, on a recent trip to Seattle, one chap showed me how he grafted fruit trees using electrical tape to get the branch and the root stock together. And he used a box cutter to do the cutting. So he said, Look, you don't need fancy equipment. Check it out on my website, on orchardpeople.com, on the blog.
He was so interesting and he was highly successful with a box cutter and electrical tape. And he was fantastic and he was grafting onto existing fruit trees, different varieties. So these were old fruit trees that the fruit didn't taste very good, but you don't wanna cut these things down.
Why not just graft on some new varieties?
Jason Adkins: So I think that's brilliant, and that's something we're beginning to try out just last year, is some guerrilla grafting of some existing trees, like Bradford pears that weren't producing edible fruit, but could be.
Susan Poizner: Amazing. So we've gotta wrap up in a minute.
I know you have to run back off to class, but just before you go, can you give me a bigger picture? 'cause it sounds to me like the whole urban farming program there is really interesting. What else do you have other than the orchard?
Jason Adkins: We have quite a bit for being a mile from downtown. We're about 1.5 miles from the capital building of Tennessee.
We have 40 goats, we have 3 pigs. We have 2 guardian dogs, 2 great Pyrenees. We have 2 beehives expanding to 10 beehives this spring. And then a worm farm. We raise tilapia in our greenhouses. We have a tremendous amount of starts that go into community gardens in our urban farm area. And a composting system.
So we try to do a little bit of everything.
Oh, as well as mushroom production in order to teach students how to take the liberating work of growing food for oneself into neighborhoods that are food insecure, both in our country and abroad. So we also work in different countries to help communities that have invited us there to work with their communities for food self-sufficiency.
So that's some of the really great work our students are doing with our local and distant communities, and what we're training them to do through our environmental justice system.
Susan Poizner: That is so exciting. It sounds like you have your hands full. I'm sure that you're going to go tend the goats after class?
[00:22:28] Wrapping Up with Jason Adkins
Jason Adkins: Right, that's true.
Susan Poizner: It's very exciting. So I really appreciate you coming, on the show today, taking the time out of the classroom and out of the orchard and out of the gardens to come and chat with me here on the show today. Thank you so much and please do keep me posted on what happens in the future. I really look forward to learning more.
Jason Adkins: Thanks for including me, Susan.
Susan Poizner: Okay, thanks. Goodbye for now.
Jason Adkins: Okay. Goodbye.
Susan Poizner: That was Jason Adkins of Trevecca Nazarene University.
[00:22:56] Introduction to TreePhilly Program
Susan Poizner: So why are Brown Turkey fig trees becoming so popular in Philadelphia? It could have something to do with the TreePhilly Giveaway Program where free trees, including fruit trees, are being given to residents to plant in their yards.
Since 2013, the TreePhilly program has distributed and planted 13,000 free trees to local homeowners. And overseeing the program is Erica Smith, and she's coming on the line in just a minute.
[00:23:30] Erica Smith Joins the Conversation
Susan Poizner: Erica, are you on the line with me?
Erica Smith Fichman: Hi, Susan. Yes, I am.
Susan Poizner: Hi, thanks for coming to chat with me.
Erica Smith Fichman: I am glad to be here.
Susan Poizner: Good stuff. So tell me a little bit, how did you get involved in the TreePhilly initiative?
Erica Smith Fichman: I was working with a lot of community gardening and environmental education programs in Philadelphia and really focusing on the interaction between people and plants. I had received a Bachelor's in Biology from Haverford and a Master's in Environmental Horticulture, and so I was really focused on people and plants and the opportunity came up to get involved with creating a citizen engagement focused campaign to increase the tree canopy in the city through the Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Department, and I got on board. We started TreePhilly.
[00:24:29] How TreePhilly Operates
Susan Poizner: Fantastic. So how does it work? How is it organized?
Erica Smith Fichman: TreePhilly program is a part of the Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Department here in Philadelphia.
We are a municipal non-profit corporate partnership. So we have a great partner in the Fairmount Park Conservancy and we have a fantastic corporate sponsor. Our sponsor that is new this year and we're really excited, is TD Bank, and they help us fund the yard tree giveaway program.
So we, twice a year, give away over a thousand trees to Philadelphia residents to plant in their yards on private property in the city. The trees go in the ground, not in a pot or in the sidewalk. They are meant to increase the tree canopy. Our goal is to get tree canopy to 30% in every neighborhood in Philadelphia.
[00:25:26] Tree Canopy Goals and Achievements
Susan Poizner: What is it currently? Is it quite low at the moment? The tree canopy?
Erica Smith Fichman: Yeah, the canopy across the city is an average of 20%, but it's not equitably distributed, so there are large areas that are very low canopy. And so, as part of the Greenworks Plan, which was a sustainability plan begun in 2009, one of the targets of that plan was to increase the tree canopy equitably across neighborhoods. So that's been our goal here at TreePhilly.
Susan Poizner: Fantastic. I've said in my introduction that you guys have, so far, planted 13,000 trees. That sounds like quite a lot. How many years is that? The 13,000?
Erica Smith Fichman: Right. So, the 13,000 is actually how many trees we've given away through the TreePhilly program. In the entire city, we've planted many more through street tree planting, plantings at parks, private plantings, and things like that.
So the number total, across the city, is more in the a hundred thousand or more than that range. Much more than that. I don't have the stat right off the top of my head, but the 13,000 is actually more like 14,500 trees we've given away through the yard tree giveaway program.
Susan Poizner: You're trying to catch up with NYC, I see. New York City.
[00:26:58] Popular Trees and Community Engagement
Susan Poizner: Okay. So tell me a little bit, you are giving trees to the public.
Are they excited? Are there certain trees that they want? How are they participating, or are they just calling up and saying, sure, I'll take a tree.
Erica Smith Fichman: Yeah, so we've been giving away trees since 2012, and we have a number of different types of trees that we give away. We do large shade trees, small flowering trees and fruit trees, and we find that the fruit trees and the small flowering trees are the most popular.
People are very excited to have not only the benefits of the tree, but the benefit of the beautiful flowers or the fruit to have in their yard. And so found that the smaller trees are more popular. We try to balance how many trees we give away, and try to focus on getting people larger trees to increase the tree canopy.
But also, this is a program to engage people in doing something for the tree canopy and to get them excited. And so we really do want to focus on the types of trees that people are excited about as well.
[00:28:09] Challenges and Solutions in Tree Distribution
Susan Poizner: Something I was asking myself when I read about your program is, first of all, on the one hand, I know here in Toronto, so many people would jump at the opportunity to have free fruit trees in particular, but then there's the flip side of free stuff.
Do you really appreciate it if it's free? Is that something that you have considered over the years?
Erica Smith Fichman: Yeah. We we've talked about that a lot actually because it does come up. We focus on giving away the trees for free, but the effort that people have to go through to get the tree, in our mind, is equal to any amount of money that they might spend on it. So for example, in order to get a tree through our program, you have to register early. We allow people to register for the type of tree that they want, which also helps us see which trees are the most popular. And then once you've registered, we send you several reminders to come get your tree and we have tree giveaway events that people must come to in order to get their tree.
At the event, we have tree planting and care demonstrations that they go through. And then we send them on their way with as much information as we can, including how to plant and care for the tree, where to put it. If it's a fruit tree, we are able to give them a fantastic pruning guide that the Philadelphia Orchard Project puts out so that they have that resource as well to take care of their fruit tree.
And so, for us, the effort that people go through to come get their tree is what we think really makes them appreciate the tree more than just if they had paid for it and it arrived on their doorstep.
Susan Poizner: It's excellent to have the support of a local organization like the Philadelphia Orchard Project.
[00:29:59] Support and Resources for Tree Care
Susan Poizner: So if, for instance, people have problems with pest and disease, do they turn to you? Can they turn directly to the Philadelphia Orchard Project? How are they involved in a support capacity?
Erica Smith Fichman: Sure. So we do get questions about the trees once people get them home and plant them. And even after a few seasons, people will still contact us.
We try to answer their questions, but we do also have a lot of resources on our website, including a link to the Philadelphia Orchard Projects website. And so we have many different types of resources like the Orchard Project in the city. We also have a project through the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society called Tree Tenders where people can go to, to learn more about trees.
And so we all work together to try to make sure that the trees that we're giving away are cared for properly and that people know what to do to make sure that those trees flourish, survive, and really benefit the canopy of the entire city.
Susan Poizner: I love the way that different organizations are working together for the same goal, and everybody's using their strengths. Some people know how to care for the trees. Some people can give out the free trees and have those resources, and I think it's wonderful that everybody's working together to make this a success. Yeah, it sounds really, good.
What do you do if people don't show up and, pick up their tree? Do you have leftovers ever?
Erica Smith Fichman: Yeah, so we allow for quite a bit of that at our events and we accept people to walk in to receive the tree. So people know ahead of time that, if they couldn't register, there will still be trees available at the events and we accept walk-ins at the end of the event, depending on what's left over. We'll then give those trees away to people. If we still have some trees left over at the end of the season, we have plenty of park space to plant them in.
Susan Poizner: Oh, fantastic.
Erica Smith Fichman: And we also have a nursery in the park system that's run by park staff where we can do some storage of the trees so that we try to reduce the amount of trees that go into the park.
We're really trying to get these trees into yard spaces.
Susan Poizner: So it's true that you guys are the City of Arborly Love, right?
Erica Smith Fichman: Yes, that is our message.
Instead of the City of Brotherly Love, we are the city of Arbor Love here in Philadelphia.
Susan Poizner: Oh, that is so nice.
[00:32:32] Varieties of Trees Distributed
Susan Poizner: We have a few more minutes, but I wanted to talk to you about the varieties that you're choosing and how you choose them.
I mentioned before Brown Turkey fig trees. The reason I mentioned it is because (A) we can't grow fig trees outside year round. There are people here who bury their fig trees over the winter, but it's too cold here in Toronto, Canada, to grow fig trees, so I'm fascinated with them. And also the name Brown Turkey fig tree just sounds awesome.
Is that a delicious fig? Have you ever tasted it?
Erica Smith Fichman: Yeah, it is a good fig. We do give away a lot of fig trees as part of our yard tree giveaway, and they are one of the most popular fruit trees that we give away. We can plant them here in Philadelphia. They do like to be protected over the winter, so we have some information about how you can wrap them and that kind of thing.
But we are also a heat sink in the city, and so, many fig trees can survive. We have had several harsh winters where figs have been killed down to the ground, but many of them have been growing back pretty successfully.
And so we do give away Brown Turkey. We also do a Celeste fig and we're experimenting with many different types as well. We work closely with the Philadelphia Orchard Project. I contact them regularly to get suggestions for different varieties that work 'cause we really want to have the hardiest varieties that will survive here in the city.
Susan Poizner: Okay. So what type of, are you also distributing apples or pears or Asian pears? What are some of the other varieties that you're sharing?
Erica Smith Fichman: Yeah, so we've done a lot of different types of fruit trees. We also, I'm proud to say, have a bunch of native fruit trees that we've been giving away, including the Amelanchier canadensis and other serviceberry and juneberry species. Those are natives.
We've given away the native persimmon before, and one of our most interesting trees that we're excited to be able to give away and to be able to source is the pawpaw tree, which is the only native fruit tree to this area of Pennsylvania. And so we're very excited about that.
Susan Poizner: Pawpaws are super interesting. We're gonna talk about them a little in our next show next month, actually. People think they're papaya trees and they very much are not. It's something very different.
Erica Smith Fichman: And then they think of the Jungle Book as well a lot of the time.
Susan Poizner: Oh really? Apparently they were called something like the American banana because they've got that slight banana taste. Have you had a pawpaw before? Have you eaten one?
Erica Smith Fichman: Oh yeah, I am really lucky because, some of the staff here at the park know where there are pawpaws that grow in the park system.
And some of our staff also have them growing their backyard. So I get to eat some every fall when they are ripe. They are fantastic. People call them like a banana custard taste, and I would definitely say that's pretty close to it. It's almost like a caramelized banana. Really delicious.
Susan Poizner: Oh, fantastic. It's just such a shame that, as far as I know, it takes about seven years that you have to wait until you get fruit on your pawpaw tree.
Erica Smith Fichman: Yeah, we have had success with them fruiting within about four or five years, but it does take a while 'cause they're very slow growing and they do require two different trees to set fruit.
But we do also give away all sorts of other varieties, including sour and sweet cherry, different types of plums, pears including Asian pear, different apples, and nectarines as well.
Susan Poizner: Oh, very nice.
Erica Smith Fichman: So we have many different types of trees we give away.
[00:36:22] TreePhilly Participant Feedback and Tree Stories
Susan Poizner: I wanna talk a little about the feedback that you've had from participants.
You had sent me a very interesting summary of some of the feedback you got. You send out a questionnaire afterwards, asking people how they felt about the program? We're gonna listen in a minute to some feedback, but just tell me what type of questionnaire it's on.
Erica Smith Fichman: Yeah, absolutely. So when we finish the yard tree giveaways for the season, we always send out a survey to participants. We wanna know what their experience was like with the program so we can improve it. But we also want to use that as a reminder to please, if you haven't already, please plant your tree and tell us how your tree is doing, how you've been caring for it, and that kind of thing. And in the last few years we actually added an open-ended question to the end of our survey that says, tell us your tree story, and what does your tree mean to you?
And so we've gotten a lot of really fantastic replies to that question, and I think you'll hear some of them coming up.
Susan Poizner: Absolutely. Okay. Let's have a listen just for a couple of minutes. Hold the line there. Okay. We'll talk to you in a minute.
Erica Smith Fichman: Sure.
TreePhilly Participant Tree Story #1: The house I live in originally belonged to my grandma. She had a fig tree planted in the backyard and it was destroyed, so I chose a pear tree and I planted it in her honor, in the exact same spot the failed fig tree was.
TreePhilly Participant Tree Story #2: We planted a witch hazel tree and a nectarine tree. We're in love with them. They're growing and healthy so far. And I take my six month old daughter outside every day so that she can get to know them. Can't wait to eat a few nectarines in a few years.
TreePhilly Participant Tree Story #3: My yard was once a beautiful garden when the house was built in 1906. But it's gotten sad and weedy and unkempt. These fruit trees are part of our plan to bring it back to life as a little food supply and sustainable urban garden, as well as a place of beauty. I have one 80-year-old apple tree that's 80 feet tall, but produces nothing. I planted my new little apple tree next to it to grow up and take its place. This is the cycle of life and will be the cycle of my own life.
TreePhilly Participant Tree Story #4: This year, our household has started making large changes: eating healthier, planting vegetables, herbs and flowers, and overall going greener. The trees have added to our new changes and has really added a sense of accomplishment. Plus, the tree will look beautiful once full grown in our front yard.
TreePhilly Participant Tree Story #5: I am happy to be a second year TreePhilly participant, and I'm happy to have four trees in my backyard. I live in Port Richmond where trees are hard to come by, so I like to think I'm doing my part in beautifying the neighborhood and improving our environment.
Susan Poizner: So that was very interesting, erica. I was just interested by the diversity of responses. Everybody seems to be taking a tree for a different reason.
Erica Smith Fichman: Yeah, we do hear a lot of different types of responses to that question. We hear a lot about planting a tree in honor of a loved one or because of a new addition to the family.
We hear about people planting a tree because it reminds them of their family that lives elsewhere or the cultural history of their family. A lot of people talk about the benefit to the community, how it's become a focus point for the neighborhood and things like that.
And, a lot of them, when when we do these surveys, a lot of the focus of these answers are on the connection that people have made to their trees. They are in love with their trees. They talk to them. They name them. They talk about how they're gonna add beauty to their yards. They're going to add another kind of element to the community.
Either they're gonna share the fruit or they're gonna share the flowers with everyone else. And so really that's why we focus on the City of Arborly Love and that connection that people make with trees as a way of explaining the benefit of trees, just one of the different benefits of trees.
Susan Poizner: It really resonates and reminds me of my conversation earlier, with Jason, about how important it is just to know the name of your tree, what type of tree it is, whether it's a native tree or a fruiting tree, and to start that relationship.
And as a writer, as a teacher, I teach about fruit trees and I teach people how to care for them. I tell people that when you plant a fruit tree or any tree, you're starting a relationship. This is a long-term relationship. It's not like planting a zucchini plant, and if it does, okay, great. You eat the zucchini. If it doesn't, you throw it out and you try again next year or something. I really feel that, it sounds to me like your program is really creating these relationships, and let's hope you can do that for many years more to come.
[00:41:56] Future of TreePhilly Program
Susan Poizner: Is there an end date for the program, or is it gonna keep on going?
Erica Smith Fichman: We are excited that our sponsor, TD Bank, is going to be sponsoring us for at least the next three years. And so we definitely have a lot of exciting seasons to come of giving away fruit trees, different types of trees are coming up in the next few seasons, and yeah, we are really looking forward to growing this program.
[00:42:22] Conclusion and Contact Information
Susan Poizner: If anybody wants to know more, what's the website that they would go to, if they live in Philadelphia and they want a free tree?
Erica Smith Fichman: Yeah. Absolutely. The website is treephilly.org and we are going to be opening up registration for our spring yard tree giveaways in early March.
And the giveaways themselves will be in the middle of April, all over the city, many different locations. So keep an eye out for that at treephilly.org.
Susan Poizner: I guess you don't send them to Toronto?
Erica Smith Fichman: Unfortunately it is a Philadelphia only program.
Susan Poizner: Oh dear. it was worth asking, I thought I would ask.
Thank you so much for coming on the show today. Very much appreciated, and I hope to talk to you again.
Erica Smith Fichman: Yes, you too. Thank you, Susan.
Okay, take care. Goodbye.