Cameron parks – Nature Along the El Camino Real

By Carolyn Henderson

Anyone remember planting the three Bur Oaks in Cameron parks last April? Two of the three are doing great.

About 10 members and friends planted them in Wilson-Ledbetter Park, Cameron City Park, and Orchard Park in honor of Earth Day. The trees at Orchard Park and Wilson-Ledbetter Park are growing, which indicates they will survive. Cameron City Park tree has mysteriously died.

Both of the living trees were planted close to the bodies of water in each park, and then Liz Lewis and I proceeded to water them every week. They both survived a very heavy wind in a storm the day after we planted them. The wind bent both of them toward the ground. It practically laid the Wilson-Ledbetter Park Bur Oak on the ground. Michelle and Oscar Lopez and I went out to check on them and found it. We staked it upright to a degree. The top part is alive, but it really seems to be coming back from the ground.

The Orchard Park oak also was found leaning from the storm, and I pushed it back in place. Then the heat wave set in on the area. Liz and I took water to the three at least once a week. We used cat litter jugs to carry it. The City Park oak had lost all its leaves early on, but resprouted them in two weeks. I labeled that transplant shock. I was watering it once a week.

Later, I was told someone else (not a member) was watering the tree regularly. I drive by it frequently. It had green leaves on it until one day it didn’t. It was dead at that time. It is a mystery why it died. I have left it there for now, just in case it sprouts from the bottom like the Wilson Ledbetter oak has done.

I’d like to plant Redbuds out a Wilson-Ledbetter, but it might be too much to water.

Note from Sue Ann Kendall: I had a bur oak in my yard in Round Rock. It lost its leaves each winter. Maybe that’s what’s going on in the City Park tree. If they all resprout in spring, do cut the sprouts from the base so the trees will have one trunk. If they don’t, encourage one trunk to regrow.

Just thoughts. I could be wrong. it happens.

By Carolyn Henderson

The El Camino Real chapter planted native trees in three Cameron parks on Earth Day, then removed some invasive species that they “girdled” last year. Twelve members and a couple of family volunteers planted Bur Oaks in Cameron City Park, Orchard Park, and Wilson-Ledbetter Park to promote native species to help the natural eco-system locally.

*The tree-planting gang at Cameron City Park*

Quite a few trees were lost in and around Cameron during the ice storm this year, so the chapter is making an effort to replace them. Any type of native oak tree is considered the most beneficial to the local eco-system. Native trees are more acclimated to the heat and drought conditions that are occurring fairly often.

In addition to planting the trees, the members removed the three Glossy Privets at Wilson-Ledbetter Park that had been girdled over a year ago. Girdling is a method to remove trees without herbicides to avoid harming other trees. Alan Rudd brought his chain saw and a trailer. He cut them down and the members and volunteers loaded all the branches on the trailer. They were removed and burned to prevent resprouting elsewhere.

*Pondering a privet at Wilson-Ledbetter Park*

Alan also planted an Eastern Redbud in the trunk of an old dead tree at Cameron City Park in an experiment to see if it will grow there and add some color to the park. Members have volunteered to keep all the trees watered on a weekly basis through the summer and early fall. We planted the trees in the manner recommended by our recent speaker from the A & M Forest Service.