Dysart-Geneseo Elementary Student Council members pose for a photograph alongside Michele Werner with Farmers Savings Bank & Trust on Friday, April 25, near the school playground in Dysart after planting a bald cypress tree with assistance from members of the town’s Tree Board (not pictured) in honor of Arbor Day. Werner’s bank donated financially toward the tree’s purchase. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

DYSART – “The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago.”

But today is good, too.

Such were the words of wisdom that Pastor Dan Hartwig, Dysart Tree Board President, told members of the Dysart-Geneseo Elementary Student Council last Friday afternoon as they worked together near the school playground to plant a tree in honor of Arbor Day.

“I am guessing that through the years we have planted at least 25 trees at the elementary,” fellow board member Catharine Wieck told the newspaper following the annual ceremony. “This would include those planted by the Little Knights (Learning Center) to shade their playground.”

The tree chosen this year was a bald cypress – “a tough tree that will grow most anywhere and does not make a mess,” Wieck explained. “It is a good shade tree and fast growing.”

Pastor Dan Hartwig (left), Dysart Tree Board President, observes as fellow board member Eric Taylor prepares a bald cypress tree for planting last Friday as K-5 members of the DG Student Council look on. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the species is a deciduous conifer, meaning it will form cones and has needles like conifers but changes color in autumn before dropping its needles like a deciduous tree. Bald cypresses can reach anywhere from 80 to 100 feet with a 20 to 50-foot canopy. The species is incredibly long-lived, with healthy specimens easily reaching 600 years of age.

Before last Friday’s dirt work outside, which took place directly west of DG’s new playground equipment, members of the Tree Board, Mayor Pro Tem Mary Wankowicz (stepping in for Mayor Tim Glenn), and Michele Werner with Farmers Savings Bank & Trust all took part in DG’s annual Arbor Day program in the gym. The assembly opened with remarks by both DG Student Council President Hudsyn Goken and Principal Derek Weber, after which the Tree City USA Flag was presented to Wankowicz by the Tree Board. Remarks were also provided by Wankowicz, Werner (whose bank contributed financially toward the purchase of the tree), and Hartwig.

The assembly ended with students singing “Agents of Change” before K-5 student council members headed outside.

After explaining to the students the best practice for planting a tree, Hartwig and fellow board member Eric Taylor got to work setting the bald cypress in a hole dug earlier in the day by students and maintenance staff. Shovels were then handed out for students to take turns tucking the tree into its new home.

At one point while the students worked, Hartwig commented on how long the tree might live – up to 1,000 years, he said. A fact which certainly lends credence to his belief that if you unfortunately weren’t proactive a decade ago, today is always the next-best time to plant a tree.

Members of the DG Elementary Student Council help plant a bald cypress – a tree species that can reach more than 1,000 years of age – on Friday, April 25, near the school playground in honor of Arbor Day. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER