Townsend Trees Planted for Special Purposes
 | Author:
Patrick Plantenberg, Tree Board Chair
Townsend Tree Board Chair, Townsend Rotary Club |
Townsend Trees Planted for Special Purposes
Patrick Plantenberg
Tree Board Chair
This is the 24th of a series of articles about trees planted in Townsend and Broadwater County to honor people, special events, or for other purposes.
The Tree Board hopes people will come forward with more information on other trees planted on public as well as private property so the tree and its purpose can be documented.
113) Sorbus Decora, Showy Mountain Ash; planted in 2010 north of the Community Library in Memory of Garrison and Lavina Rains. This berry tree was chosen because Garrison and Lavina loved watching the Cedar Waxwings come to their crabapple tree in the Fall outside their big east-facing window at 310 S. Cedar. The birds would feast on the frozen crab apples and get loopy. It was a fun spectacle. The tree was planted by the family and the Tree Board. The tree died from fireblight and needs to be replaced.
114) Picea abies ‘Pendula’; Norway Weeping Spruce, planted in Fall 2006 south of Cecelia Hazelton Elementary School in Memory of Cecelia Hazelton, Superintendent of Schools when the elementary school was constructed in 1951. The Norway Weeping Spruce was planted to replace Pfitzer Junipers Planted by the Elementary School Children in 1952. The Junipers had to be removed to landscape the south side of the elementary school in 2006. The tree was paid for by the Tree Board. The tree died and needs to be replanted.
115) A plaque was installed south of the Cecelia Hazelton Elementary School to commemorate a Landscaping Project Completed in the Fall of 2006 by Mr. Clint Watsons’s Sophomore and Junior Technology Class students and Patrick Plantenberg. The project was completely ripped out by the construction of the new elementary school in 2022. Hopefully, Technology Class students can again complete some landscaping projects at the school in the future.
116) Tilia x flavescens ‘Dropmore’, Dropmore Linden; planted in 2008 west of the elementary school to Honor Nick Hill, Cecelia Hazelton Elementary School 4th Grader, who won the 2007 State Agriculture in Montana Schools Noxious Weed Bumper Sticker Contest. The tree was planted by Nick Hill and the 5th graders. The tree was donated by the Tree Board. The tree had to be removed as part of new school construction in 2021 and needs to be replanted.
117) Prunus virginiana ‘Canada Red’; Canada Red Chokecherry; planted on Arbor Day, April 27, 2007, west of the elementary school by the Toston Girl Scout Troop 205: Sarah Sanderson, Senior Troop Asst.; Ryna Sanches, Dolly Sanches, Edee Sanches, and Cindy Sanderson. Troop Leader Lenna Webb. The tree was planted by the Girl Scout Troop and the Tree Board. The tree was paid for by Using the Troop’s Girl Scout Cookie Earnings. The tree had to be removed as part of new school construction in 2021 and needs to be replanted.
