You know ’tis the season when Santa Claus himself arrives in Burien, delivered to the city’s big ol’ fir tree at Advertiser Economy Wiring/YB Tubless by B-Town’s finest firefighters!

Ol’ St. Nick made it safely of course, led this time not by a reindeer with a bright red shiny nose, but driven in a bright red shiny fire truck courtesy the Burien/Normandy Park Fire Department.

Children from St. Francis School sang carols, goodies were given out, the tree was lit up, and our own Photographer Michael Brunk showed up to capture this Photo Slideshow:

Click to View Michael Brunk’s Photo Slideshow

Longtime owner Gwin Smith started this tradition in 1966 when he first bought Economy Wiring. In the first eight years of the tree lighting, Gwin climbed the huge fir tree himself to install the lights and then climbed back up in January to take them down. This changed some years ago, when the fire department took responsibility for installing and removing the lights.

You can see the festive bright lights on the big tree yourself every day around dusk at Economy Wiring’s location at 633 SW 148th Street (Phone: 206-244-7542).

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Santa will be arriving in Burien to help light up our big fir tree, along with firefighters, the St. Francis School Choir, free treats and much more at the annual Tree Lighting Festival on Wednesday, Dec. 2nd beginning at 6pm.

The ceremony will take place at the large Fir tree at BTB Advertiser’s Y-B Tubless store, located at 633 SW 148th in Burien.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony

WHEN: Wednesday, Dec. 2nd beginning at 6pm

WHERE: The giant Fir tree at YB Tubless, located at 633 SW 148th

INFO: Santa will arrive with Burien firefighters on a fire engine and the St. Francis School Choir will sing Christmas songs.

Treats and hot beverages will be available for everyone.

We will also be collecting canned food for local needy families.

Come out and enjoy the evening.

Welcome our latest Advertiser – Zenith Holland Gardens, located just south of B-Town in Des Moines!

It’s Christmas tree time and Zenith Holland Gardens in Des Moines is the place to find yours.

The trees arrive tomorrow – Friday, Nov. 20th.

“Real trees have a great natural fragrance,” reminds Lyn Robinson of Zenith Holland. “Real trees smell like Christmas!”

Located just south of downtown Des Moines, Zenith Holland is open seven days a week (see map below).

They offer a terrific selection: Noble Fir, Grand Fir and Douglas Fir. Trees come in all sizes, from tabletops to twelve feet.

Many Christmas tree lots accept only cash from their customers. Zenith Holland also takes Visa, Mastercard and personal checks.

“And who actually delivers Christmas trees?” Lyn points out. “Well, we do!” Delivery fees are waived for tree buyers in the local Des Moines area.

While you’re there, check out the wonderful holiday wreaths, garlands and festive centerpieces Zenith Holland is offering.

Zenith Holland is open seven days a week from 10am to 9pm. They open at 9am on Saturdays.

Like a sapling in a forest, Zenith Holland is easy to miss if you don’t know it’s there.

It’s easy to find:

• Head south through downtown Des Moines on Marine View Drive.
• You’ll pass the Red Robin restaurant on your right. Stay in the right lane, curving gently up the hill, past the Taco Time on your left.
• About a quarter mile up you’ll see Zenith Holland’s entry point wooden sign on your left.

Zenith Holland Gardens
23260 Marine View Drive South
Des Moines, WA 98198

Phone: 206-878-7002

Hours:

• Open seven days a week
• Saturday 9am to 9pm
• Sunday through Friday 10am to 9pm

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BTB Reader Rebecca Dare brought this to our attention a few days ago – around Burien, there are numerous “orphan” trees (and plants/bushes) that may be suffering from this extreme heat and drought.

These living things might be growing near unattended buildings, near sidewalks and other places where they may not get the water they need, especially during times of high heat.

So we’re putting out the call to all Readers to “adopt” one of these poor trees and bring them water.

Here’s Rebecca’s email to us:

I noticed a Forest Pansy Redbud (one of my favorite trees) dying near the Thai restaurant (the old IHOP) and started taking bottles of water to try to save it for the last few days. The rhodys around it are already toast so I’m not bothering with them.

I’d like to add that mulch can help hold in the water — just don’t put mulch all the way up to the trunk of a tree.

At this point — this week — I think just water would be a big help! And whenever & however a person could do it. (At this point I’ve just been watering the redbud once a day — approx. 4 gallons or so.

On the day we did the big walk around with Thomas Sieverts, some of us were pretty concerned (Kitty Milne among us) about the plants by the old City Hall. I’ve been meaning to take a look at them, but not sure how best to water — maybe I’ll look into it. At the SuBu raised beds at B/IAS was have access to water.

If you see another plant or tree suffering, it’d be wonderful if you’d adopt it until things get better.

Thanks, Rebecca

UPDATE 8/3/09: Rebecca sent us these pics of herself and Bill Opfermann watering one of these trees:

We did some research, and here’s more information that might help you save one of these plants and keep Burien green:

• What a tree under “drought stress” looks like:
  • Symptoms of drought injury to trees can be sudden or may take up to two years to be revealed. Drought injury symptoms on tree leaves include wilting, curling at the edges, and yellowing.
  • Deciduous leaves may develop scorch, brown outside edges or browning between veins.
  • Evergreen needles may turn yellow, red or purple. They may also turn brown at the tips of the needles and browning may progress through the needle towards the twig.
  • In continued drought, leaves may be smaller than normal, drop prematurely or remain attached to the tree even though brown.
  • Often times, drought stress may not kill a tree outright, but set it up for more serious secondary insect and disease infestations in following years.

• Where to water your tree:

• Deep watering to a depth of 12” inches below the soil surface is recommended.
• Saturate the soil around the tree within the “dripline” (the outer edges of the tree’s branches) to disperse water down toward the roots.
• For evergreens, water 3’-5’ beyond the dripline on all sides of the tree.
• The objective is to water slowly, dispersing the flow of water to get the water deep down to the trees roots. Wateringfor short periods of time only encourages shallow rooting which can lead to more drought damage.
• Don’t dig holes in the ground in an effort to water deeply. This dries out roots even more. A soil needle/deep root feeder attached to a hose is acceptable to insert into the ground if your soil is not too hard and compact.
• Overhead spraying of tree leaves is inefficient and should be avoided during drought conditions. Watering at ground level to avoid throwing water in the air is more efficient.

• Tree Watering: Amount of water needed and methods to use:

• During the drought, trees must be given top watering priority over your lawn. However, caring for trees requires different watering methods than your lawn.
• During water restrictions, irrigation systems designed to water turf do not sufficiently water your trees. During the drought, trees should be given a higher priority than lawns. Lawns can be replaced in a matter of months whereas a 20 year old tree will take 20 years to replace.
• How much water your tree should receive depends upon the tree size. A general rule of thumb is to use approximately 10 gallons of water per inch of trunk diameter for each watering. Measure trunk diameter at knee height. General formula: Tree Diameter x 5 minutes = Total Watering Time.
• Example: When you hand water using a hose at medium pressure, it will take approximately 5 minutes to produce 10 gallons of water. If you have a 4” diameter tree, it should receive 40 gallons of water – multiply by 5 minutes to equal total watering time of 20 minutes.
• All size trees should be watered April through September according to the guidelines below. All trees should also receive adequate water during the winter months too –For more information on winter watering, see below.
• Water should be distributed evenly under the dripline of the tree.
• The best watering method depends upon whether you have a small (1-7” diameter), medium (8-15” diameter) or large sized (16”+ diameter) tree.
• Small Trees (1-7” diameter) –3 times per month, April through September.
• Newly planted and smaller trees can get adequate water within the existing watering restrictions by hand watering with a soft spray hose attachment as a separate zone on your designated day.

So, if you decide to help out one of Burien’s (and your planet’s) fellow living things, please take some pics and email them to us along with info on where the tree/planet was located!

Wednesday, April 8th is Arbor Day, and the city of Burien’s Parks and Recreation Department will be celebrating it at Dottie Harper Park with a special tree planting in honor of the day and in memory of the late Dottie Harper, founding member of the Burien Arts Association and former Burien Deputy Mayor.

Erin Williamson, Executive Director of the Burien Arts Association will help install a glorious flowering kousa dog wood tree in the park to mark the occasion.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Burien’s Arbor Day celebration and commemoration of Dottie Harper

WHEN: Wednesday, April 8th at Noon

WHERE: Dottie Harper Park, upper east end near playground equipment; the park is located at SW 146th Street and 4th Avenue Southwest near the Burien library.

INFO: For more Information, call 206-988-3700

Dottie Harper passed away in February of this year, and here’s more info from the files of the Highline Historical Society:

Dottie Harper was Burien’s “Betsy Ross, chief promoter, publicity agent, school and civic planner and representative.”

She was a tireless community activist, member of the State Arts Commission, King County Arts Commission and Historic Preservation Board, co-chairman of the Seahurst Park Committee, chairman of the Burien Bi-centennial Committee, city of Burien Councilmember and Chairman of itsArts Committee.

All such activity was a voluntary, full-time pursuit.

You know the economy’s really hit the skids when people are “giving away” twisted and mangled tree stumps for FREE, as if they’re actually worth anything.

Found on seattle-tacoma craigslist > seattle > free stuff:

FREE tree stump (burien)

it’s just sitting here so if you want it let me know. Thanks for looking

If ya want this normally-expensive rotting piece o’wood at a huge discount, you’d better email sale-883298229@craigslist.org pronto!

Sustainable Burien’s Food Pod is seeking volunteers for a “Tree Gleaning” this Sunday, Oct. 12th at 2pm.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Personally, we hadn’t heard of “gleaning” relating to food before (pardon our ignorance folks but hey, at least we’re honest) so we looked it up; here’s how Wikipedia defines it:

Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers’ fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. Some ancient cultures promoted gleaning as an early form of a welfare system. For example, ancient Jewish communities required that farmers not reap all the way to the edges of a field so as to leave some for the poor and for strangers.

As for this particular gleaning, it’s a large apple tree with lots of apples, and is located near SW 128th and SR-509.

According to Suzanne Greive of Sustainable Burien:

One of our goals was to identify fruit-bearing trees that could be gleaned and donated to local food banks.

I have been working with the West Seattle gleanit.org group since we don’t have an organized group for Burien yet.

We had one successful gleaning experience in Burien and gathered 232 lbs of apples from one of my neighbors.

I did start a blog just for our small food pod group and here is the link if you want to check it out: http://sustainableburienfoodpod.blogspot.com/

I also am a extreme couponer and take advantage of free or nearly free items for the food banks with the use of coupons and local sales. You can check my blog out out at http://suzdeals.blogspot.com/ In particular the post about couponing basics. It’s a rewarding hobby and contributes to our food banks and community.

I am a big fan of both the B-Town Blog and the White Center Blog (I live right between the two).

To volunteer or get more info, please email Suzanne Greive: suzgreive@yahoo.com

Burien Parks & Recreation celebrated Arbor Day with the dedication and planting of a Pacific Dogwood at the trailhead of Shorewood Park.

Mayor Joan McGilton, Parks Board Chair Jean Spohn and Parks Department employee Myron Clinton helped plant the tree:

Burien Parks and Recreation will be celebrating Arbor Day at 10am on Wednesday, April 16 at Shorewood Park, and all B-Townians are invited to attend.

The idea for Arbor Day originally came from Nebraska in 1872, when pioneer J. Sterling Morton first proposed a tree-planting holiday to be called “Arbor Day” at a meeting of the State Board of Agriculture. The date was set for April 10, 1872. Prizes were offered to counties and individuals for planting properly the largest number of trees on that day. It was estimated that more than one million trees were planted in Nebraska on the first Arbor Day.

And now, the tree-planting tradition continues. All Burienites are encouraged to plant a tree on this day, as well as take part in the Burien Parks ceremony. In 2007, Burien was named a Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation.

The Shorewood on the Sound Community Group led by park board member Jean Spohn will be on hand to plant a Native Dog Wood Tree at the entrance to the park.  Jean will also be awarded a certificate of appreciation for all her efforts organizing and leading the community group in Shorewood Park restoration efforts.

Shorewood Park is located at SW 119th Street and 28th Ave. SW in Burien:

View Larger Map

Yesterday the temp hit a high of 52.5 degrees Farenheit in our B-Town ‘hood!

Nice enough to go for a walk without getting soaked or chilled to the bone.

Sunny enough to get our fingers dirty cleaning out the garden.

And gorgeous enough to snap this shot of ol’ Sol peaking through some of our larger neighbors: