It’s time to enjoy a little fall color, and kids rolling in leaf piles. Of course, we here in Forest Park have been enjoying the phases of the trees since the first long-awaited leaves emerged in spring.

There are the Oak trees, in several varieties, reigning over Forest Park with specimens like my neighbor’s 100-foot plus queen that has me seeking shade-tolerant plants for my backyard garden. This beauty provides shade and saves on the cooling bills in mid-summer, It also rains acorns. In a “mast” year like this I may be able to break the record for barrels of acorns raked up. Every squirrel in north Columbus knows about this beauty!

Then we have the Maples, red and yellow fire in fall. Some stunners stand out on Sandalwood and other streets. I have one in my tree line, starting to push up the sidewalk. I am reluctant to call the city about the sidewalk (they will fix it when it gets bad enough), in case they decide the tree might have to go. (Maybe we do need some smaller trees in the tree line?)

Speaking of smaller trees, I planted a Dogwood out back, in honor of our canine friends. This dogwood is a small native tree that stays small and ideally fits in the backyard garden.

Ninebark (“Little Devil,” actually a bush) is another Ohio native I found to replace the dreadful barberry that skewered me too many times while working in the garden. It has lovely foliage, covers the barberry’s red color in the fall, and the wild creatures just love the berries.

Black Walnut, another royal towering specimen, is not in my yard — but the nuts find their way to my yard! The squirrels love to leave husk fragments as they, which I must remove to prevent black stains on the driveway and sidewalks. If you decide to husk these, wear gloves, or be prepared for a few days of looking like you washed your hands with black ink.

Ash … 😢 Does anyone still have one?

The trees make Forest Park FOREST Park. What are your favorites? All the beautiful trees (and everything else) give us a great place to come home to, refreshing us and making us ready to improve the world through our work and Civic engagement.

See you soon! It’s so good to be sharing a place we can all call HOME.
Your president, Scott Prigan.

P.S. Here’s the Dogwood after the frost.