You’re Invited to Get a fruit or shade TREE From the HMEG Tree Team!

As a community, we are facing losing all of our ash trees due to the Emerald ash borer (EAB). In response, the Hamline Midway Environmental Group (HMEG) Tree Team has secured sponsorship to provide trees to Hamline Midway residents at a great discount. Trees are offered first-come, first-served based on availability, limited to one tree per property. Trees cannot be planted on the boulevard. See your choices below:

Fruit Tree Species

Evans Bali Cherry, Prunus cerasus 'Evans Bali'. Zone 3-8. Ht. 15’.
Full sun. Deep, dark red fruit 1" in diameter and excellent for baking
and fresh eating. The fruit is much sweeter than other sour cherries.
Extremely hardy buds. 5-gallon container.

Northstar Cherry, Prunus ‘North Star’. Zone 4-8. Genetic dwarf, Ht.
8-10’. Self-fertile. Full sun. Red fruit with small stone, very productive
sour cherry. 5-gallon container.

Mount Royal Plum, Prunus ‘Mount Royal’. Zone 4-8. Ht. 8-12’. Full
sun. Blue, European plum. Excellent for dessert, jam and preserves.
Tasty right off the tree. 5-gallon container.

Pioneer Chinese Apricot, Prunus armeniaca 'Pioneer'. Zone 4. Ht.10-
15’. Golden-yellow fruits are sweet, firm and juicy. Trees bear young
and heavily. Its pit is edible and tastes of almond. Self-fruitful,
however yields improve with cross-pollination. 5-gallon container.

Native Shade Tree Species

Hackberry, Celtis occidentalis. Zone 3-5. H:50-75' W: 50-75'. Full sun
to part shade. Tolerates dry polluted conditions. Persistent small,
purplish berries. Yellow fall color. Very high wildlife value. 5-gallon
container.

River Birch, Betula nigra. Zone 4-8. H:50-60’ W:35-40’. Clump. Full
sun/light shade. Cinnamon-brown exfoliating bark. Yellow fall color.
High wildlife value. 5-gallon container.

Swamp White Oak, Quercus bicolor. Zone 4-5. H: 50-60' W: 40-50'.
Tolerates most soils. Yellow orange fall color. Persistent leaves in
winter. Fibrous root system. Resistant to salt and soil compaction. Very
high wildlife value. 5-gallon container.

Native Ornamental Tree Species

Pagoda Dogwood, Cornus alternifolia. Zone 4-7. H:15-20’ W:20-25’.
Full sun to shade. Graceful small tree has pale yellow flowers in May
with blue-black fruit. Maroon-red fall color. Branches grow in irregular
tiers, forming a somewhat horizontal, layered look to the plant. High
wildlife value. 5-gallon container.

Serviceberry, Amelanchier x grandiflora ‘Autumn Brilliance’ (native
hybrid). Zone 3-8. H:20-25’ W:10-15’. This tree has white blossoms in
spring with sweet purplish-black fruit. Brilliant red-orange fall color.
Heavily branched, the tree has an interesting spreading branch pattern
and attractive light gray bark. High wildlife value. 5-gallon container.

All trees are only $5!

Reserve your tree by September 1st! Contact Hamline Midway Coalition at 651-646-1986 or michaeljon@hamlinemidway.org. Prepayment required. Send your name and choice of tree
along with a $5 check or cash to:

HMC at 1564 Lafond Ave., St.
Paul, MN 55104.

Recipients MUST pick up their tree on September 17 at:

Eggplant Urban Farm Supply,
1771 Selby Ave., St. Paul.
between 10:00am – 6:00pm.

Be sure to call Gopher One before you dig: (651) 454-0002!

Do you need a printable flyer with this info? See this pdf.

Major funding from the Community Organization Partnership Program and McKnight Foundation via the Hamline Midway Coalition. HMEG will gladly take donations towards future greening efforts. Cash or checks can be made to HMC. Thanks!

Bike/Walk Week, June 11 Bike Rodeo and More Bike Fabulousness!

With warmer weather comes even more opportunities to bike, for recreation, for commuting, and for errands, and this June is full of chances to learn more about biking safely and even earn perks and bonuses for making bicycling part of your everyday routine.

June 4-12 is Twin Cities Bike/Walk Week, and though it's a little late to get a Bike/Walk team organized this year, you can still register yourself at http://bikewalkweek.org/joinup. And of course you can spread the word to friends, neighbors, and co-workers. You can look here for special Bike/Walk events--there might be one happening near you!

Speaking of local events, on June 11, from 10 am-1 pm, HMEG is partnering with Hancock Recreation Center to present a bike safety rodeo for kids. For $5 per child or $12 per family, participants can get a helmet fitting, a bike safety check and minor repairs performed by local mechanics, and the opportunity to try out a safety obstacle course designed by the St. Paul Police. All participants can get a free helmet while supplies last, and at 12:30 there will be door prizes, with lots of great prizes donated by local businesses. On Facebook, you can visit here for more information, or call Hancock Recreation Center at 651-298-4393 for further information or to register ahead of time. Registering at the door is fine, too. We welcome volunteer help, as well! Hancock is located at 1610 Hubbard Avenue, St. Paul 55104.

The local group Bike Minnesota 350 is inviting people to join the Summer of 350/Winter of 350 Challenge, which is to bike 350 miles or kilometers over the summer, fall and winter of 2010, and to track your miles. 350.org is an international organization working to spread the word that we need to get our worldwide carbon dioxide emissions down to 350 parts per million in the atmosphere to preserve a livable planet. Currently, we're at about 390 ppm and rising. You can learn more about the Minnesota bike challenge here, and you can sign up as a member of the 350 Blue Team here.

Mississippi Market has proven its awesomeness once again by offering Bicycle Benefits to customers. For $5, you can purchase a Bicycle Benefits sticker for your bike helmet, and each time you bike to shop at the co-op, show your helmet and get a 5% discount on your groceries (excluding other discounts and not valid on milk, butter, and eggs, which are already sold as cheaply as the co-op can afford). If you're not biking to get groceries, this should provide a nice incentive. If you already are biking to get groceries, score! Get those insulated bags ready and get pedaling!

Finally, this summer those cute green Nice Ride bikes that you've seen in Minneapolis will start being available in St. Paul, including at Hamline University here in the Midway.

It's already been a beautiful summer for bicycling; with all this community support for biking, there's just no reason not to enjoy the community-building, environment-protecting, healthy joys of biking together!