From left, Charles Leaks, Jimmy Michener and Willie Jones of the City of Palmetto Parks Department water a just-planted Heritage live oak tree Friday at Hidden Lake Park after a Florida Arbor Day celebration attended by city and local officials.
It's a labor of love for the trio of workers, who tend to think of the fledgling trees in their care as part of their family and it's a big family! In the last decade or so, their department has helped plant more than 2,000 trees, 200 of which are located within the city limits.
Until this young oak gets established, it will be carefully hand-watered up to three times a week in regular visits from the city's 5,000-gallon watering truck. When itís fully grown, it will stand about 60 feet tall and its branches will extend 30 feet in any direction from this tiny trunk.
We'll all be long gone by then, but our children's children may be able to reap the benefits of today's careful planning and hard work part of what has helped the City of Palmetto earn its designation as a Tree City USA, along with the local cities of Bradenton, Bradenton Beach. Holmes Beach, Anna Maria and Sarasota.
Grant Jefferies, a native of Palmetto and chief photographer at the Bradenton Herald, has been capturing moments in the lives of Manatee County residents for over 25 years. Images from the streets of Cuba and Haiti to the clay fields of the Little League World Series and beyond have been captured through the lenses of Jefferies' cameras. Jefferies can be found on his sailboat when his feet are not on land.
Tiffany Tompkins-Condie is in her 13th year as a photojournalist at the Bradenton Herald. Through the years she has covered crimes and carnivals; feasts and floods. Her postings will vary from events in Manatee County's back yard to the work of photojournalists covering the stories of our times from around the world. 
Paul Videla has been a staff photographer with the Bradenton Herald since 2002, when he made the move from Detroit, Mich. When he's not working,
he enjoys hunting for unique LPs at the area's plethora of thrift stores and continually works to improve his baking chops(as the records spin and his dog waits for handouts).
No comments:
Post a Comment