Trees

The Community Arts Center was inspired by Paramount Arts Center’s Festival of Trees in Ashland and decided to create its own exhibit, Trees of the Season, consisting of decorated trees in various shapes and sizes as well as other holiday favorites like miniature towns. The exhibit will be on display through Dec. 23 and admission is $3. This week is the last week to buy raffle tickets to win a tree from the Trees of the Season exhibit. Several local stores and individuals donated raffle trees to the exhibit and everyone is welcome to buy chances, at $5 each or six for $25. The raffle trees are all different shapes, sizes and colors, some filled with creative ornaments and lights while others have a specific theme, such as the UK tree.

Young students at Jessamine County schools got a chance to celebrate Arbor Day on Friday by planting trees on their own schools’ grounds. State forester Kent Slusher visited Nicholasville Elementary School, Jessamine Early Learning Village and Warner Elementary School to plant sugar-maple and blue-ash trees. He said the blue-ash trees were especially appropriate for the land in front of JELV, which used to be the county’s middle school. “Trees like this, when I went to junior high school, used to be in the front; blue ash used to be right here in the front of the school, and now they’ve all kind of gone away,” Slusher said.

Dear Editor, I have had the chore of changing many “stinky diapers” in the service of many beautiful babies in my lifetime. While not a pleasant experience, it is certainly worth the greater good. Likewise, can’t we “toughen up” and endure the inconvenient smell of the female ginkgo trees for a few weeks in return for the greater good that we receive when these beautiful trees shade our downtown streets and turn to glorious gold in autumn? Are we so spoiled that we can’t tolerate a little odor for a brief moment?

While the city faced little aftermath from the storms early Thursday afternoon, Clark County Road Department workers will be cleaning up the back roads today after many trees were reported down after the storms. “The damage was very minimal,” said Winchester Public Works Director Pat Clark. “I was surprised we didn't get any more than we got, but I was thankful.” Clark said the city had an issue on Lana Lane where a large tree limb fell and partially blocked the street.

Free cedar Christmas trees are available at the Jim Beam Nature Preserve in southern Jessamine County. The trees will be cut from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Dec. 10. Volunteers with the Kentucky chapter of the Nature Conservancy will be available to help pick and cut trees. Local Boy Scouts will help move and load trees. Those coming for a tree should bring a rope to tie the tree to a vehicle. The preserve is located in southern Jessamine County across from the Camp Nelson National Cemetery and near the Kentucky River.

Before we know it, Christmas will be here once again. I would like to share with you what made Christmas become “Christmas” at my house when I was growing up. Of course, my family believed in the miraculous birth of Jesus, and we attended or participated in the church plays and activities the Sunday before Christmas. After that special  time, and we knew that Jesus was the reason for Christmas, there were other traditions we had. One was the smell of Christmas.

Workers with the State Highway Department Joey Winburn, foreground, and Chris Arnett trim trees off the roadway next to Schollsville Road.

After cutting the top of a tree Saturday morning in front of the Bluegrass Heritage Museum, bottom photo, Tony Fields of T&T Tree Service in Winchester moves the truck bucket he was in while workers lowers the top to the ground. The two catalpa trees were removed over concerns for public safety, as well as worry for the historic building and its artifacts, after a limb fell last week. Before cutting the top out of the tree, right photo, Fields ties a rope to the ection, which allowed the top to be lowered to the ground after it was cut.

With Earth Day 2008 approaching, East Kentucky Power Cooperative is planning to plant nearly 5,000 saplings at the cooperative's 3,000-acre J.K. Smith Station located near Trapp in southern Clark County. On Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon, East Kentucky Power will host volunteers - including Scouts and school children - who will lend a hand planting the trees. "We are planting the trees as part of our forest management program," said Brad Condley, senior chemist at the cooperative.

Estill Perkins with the Winchester Public Works Department trims off a low-hanging limb from a tree over the parking area along Wheeler Avenue at College Park. Working in the background cleaning up the downed limbs were, from left, Public Works employees Doug Hopper, left, and Jesse Jarman, right, and Patrick Campbell, center, with the Winchester-Clark County Parks and Recreation Department.

While the city faced little aftermath from the storms early Thursday afternoon, Clark County Road Department workers will be cleaning up the back roads today after many trees were reported down after the storms. “The damage was very minimal,” said Winchester Public Works Director Pat Clark. “I was surprised we didn't get any more than we got, but I was thankful.” Clark said the city had an issue on Lana Lane where a large tree limb fell and partially blocked the street.

Three houses were struck by a large, old Maple Tree winds blew over on Lexington Avenue in Danville Thursday afternoon. About 12 p.m., Danville Fire Department and Danville police responded to 716, 718 and 720 Lexington Avenue, located between Saint Mildred's Court and Swope Drive for reports of a fallen tree. Danville Police Captain James Monroe said a Maple Tree was blown over by winds during stormy weather, which also caused downed power lines. Monroe said the initial report stated someone was yelling for help.

“What are you doing, Dad?” my son asked when he called me on his cell phone. I was sitting on our back patio, admiring the work I'd done, having just planted the first third of my garden with the non-genetically modified seeds I had oh-so carefully selected. I wanted to come as close as I could to having an organic garden. Then, just as I as I leaned back to relax, I stood up straight, squinting at the tractor spraying the field behind my house. It was coming closer and closer to my garden.

There are only two days until Christmas, but there's still plenty of time to enjoy the Christmas festivities. Whether you are going to drive through the Lexington Horse Park to view Southern Lights, take a road trip and go to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, or enjoy your neighbors' light displays in their front yards, the lights and sounds of Christmas are everywhere. Lexington Southern Lights: For the past several years, visiting Southern Lights has been one of our family traditions.

In order to have a living memory of a particular Christmas, displaying a live Christmas tree not only perks up the season but provides a tree for your landscape. There are many people who hate to buy a cut tree then turn around and throw it out, and many more who do not want an artificial tree. Select a tree that is right for your climate, soil and light conditions. Be sure to select a tree variety that is hardy to two zones colder than your climate. Most nurseries will tag and hold trees until you're ready to bring them home.

Salvation Army workers and volunteers wrapped up their Angel Tree gift giving Friday, able to meet this season's goals thanks to an 11th-hour flurry of generosity by local residents and businesses. “We will have had 372 families come through, which represents just over 750 kids,” Lt. Jason Burns said Friday, as the last of the Angel Tree gifts were being distributed. Burns and his wife, Lt. Bethany Burns, lead the Danville branch of The Salvation Army.  For much of December, it looked as if the Salvation Army's annual effort might fall short of its goal, but residents stepped up over the last days of the campaign and helped grant area children a Christmas they may not have otherwise experienced.

In 1991, Dorothy Winburn planted a tree in her yard on Locust Grove Road in honor of her husband, James O. Winburn, shortly after his death. Now, more than 20 years later, that same tree has gone on to an even bigger job - serving as the 2012 Clark County Christmas tree. “I wanted the tree dedicated to my husband, so I donated it to the courthouse,” Winburn said. Although she is now a resident of the Windsor Care nursing center in Mount Sterling, the Winburns made Winchester their home for more than 40 years.

Thanksgiving morning, while my glorious 30-pound turkey was roasting (to perfection, I¿might add) in the oven, I¿decided to go ahead and put up a real Christmas tree. I have never had a tree up on Thanksgiving because when I was living with my parents, we always had a real tree. It was nothing super special - I'm talking Kroger parking lot kind of real tree - but we did always enjoy the smell, and both my parents grew up in go-to-the-woods-in-a-winter-wonderland-and-cut-down-our-tree kind of families.

Just in time for holiday cheer, Kentucky School for the Deaf invites the public to take in the beautiful history of Danville in a special annual presentation. Along with Jacobs Hall Museum, KSD Charitable Foundation will hold the Christmas Historic Tour 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Dec. 8, showcasing the most historic buildings of the area. The event features a Christmas buffet, live music and tours of Jacobs Hall and six other historic properties. Decorated in high Victorian style, Danville's National Historic Landmark building, Jacobs Hall, 303 S. Second St., on the KSD campus, will provide a light buffet lunch, music of the holiday season and museum tours.

In recent years, The Nature Conservancy of Kentucky has offered the public the opportunity to obtain free Christmas trees from its Jim Beam Nature Preserve in Jessamine County. The popular event has been so successful in clearing unwanted cedar trees from a meadow where the conservancy has planted hardwood seedlings that there are not enough trees left to hold the event this year.  The conservancy will consider other locations in the Palisades region where there are easily accessible cedar trees so that the event could be resumed in the future.