Tree Warden Predicts Dogwood Bloom by Festival

The pretty pink and white dogwood trees that are the main attraction of the annual Dogwood Festival in Fairfield's Greenfield Hill neighborhood have yet to show their petals, but Town Tree Warden Ken Placko isn't worried.

"I think it's going to be a good year," Placko said Friday afternoon as he inspected one of hundreds of dogwood trees that line the route of the popular springtime festival on the grounds of the historic Greenfield Hill Congregational Church. "Right on time they're starting to break bud, flower and leaf out."

Placko said the bloom on dogwood trees, which usually lasts only two to three weeks, is dependent on sunlight and temperature. "The temperature seems to be the thing that initiates that initial growth. When the ground is thawing out and the water can be taken up by the fine-hair roots in the ground, that starts things moving," he said.

Few of the dogwood trees around the 1045 Old Academy Road church had petals on Friday afternoon, but one of the white dogwoods did. And Placko showed Fairfield Patch how another dogwood was just starting to blossom out. "The temperatures are right up there now. Last year, we got warm early; almost by the festival time, they were ready to lose their petals. This year, they're right on schedule," he said. "I would start thinking this is the flowering time. Three weeks from now, they'll be losing their petals."

Daytime high temperatures over the next week leading up to the festival range from 59 degrees to 65 degrees, with a chance of showers on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. On Friday, the first day of the festival, the NWS is forecasting mostly sunny skies and a daytime high near 62 degrees.

Placko said about 500 dogwood trees, mostly white, line roads that lead into and surround the Dogwood Festival, and he estimated another 500 dogwoods are in people's yards.

The Greenfield Hill dogwoods are pretty healthy considering the rough winter, and neighborhood residents, along with the church and Greenfield Hill Village Improvement Society, replaced trees that had become "too far gone to do anything with," Placko said.

He said about 15 dogwoods from Oliver Nurseries on Bronson Road were planted earlier this month along Bronson Road, Old Academy Road, Hillside Road and Meeting House Lane, and an irrigation project by Lou Toth from Aqua-Lawn in Fairfield was about 75 percent done and would enable dogwoods to avoid drought in case this coming summer doesn't have a lot of rain.

"That's always a problem for us, watering trees," said Placko, who's in charge of all the trees on public property and rights-of-way along roads. He said roots die off during droughts, and the irrigation project should help keep the dogwoods healthy. New dogwoods also were planted farther back from roads so salt doesn't dry them out, Placko added.

In addition to Toth, Placko said Scott Jamison of Oliver Nurseries played an important role in revitalizing Greenfield Hill's dogwoods by donating 15 trees and that Larry Erdmann of Hillside Road "put it all together."

"He saw the area degrading over time and wanted to do something. Misty Beyer was also part of it and worked through the church," Placko said.

On Friday afternoon, John Carrano and Manny Rocha, employees in the town Department of Public Works' Tree Department, trimmed dead wood from dogwoods in Greenfield Hill. Carrano's worked in the Tree Department for 14 years and Rocha's worked in the department for 11 years, but Placko said the two men have a combined 62 years of experience in the tree field when their years working in the private sector are included.

Placko's and his employees' work in caring for Fairfield's trees was recognized this week as the town received another Tree City USA designation from the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection's Forestry Division.

When Placko started as tree warden in 1992, only five or six of Connecticut's 169 municipalities received the distinction. This year, that number was 19, Placko said. "In the last couple of years, it seems like it's blossomed," he said.

Criteria for receiving the designation is towns or cities have to spend $2 for every resident on tree work, which, in Fairfield's case, works out to a minimum of about $120,000; hold an annual Arbor Day Festival that is covered by the media (Fairfield's was on Thursday, with trees plantings and ceremonies at Roger Sherman School and Riverfield School); have a town ordinance about the town's responsibility in caring for trees; and identify tree work that was accomplished in the year, including the numbers of trees planted, removed and cared for, Placko said.

The 76th annual Dogwood Festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday; from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 7; and from noon to 5 p.m. May 8 on the grounds of Greenfield Hill Congregational Church, 1045 Old Academy Road in Fairfield.

This year's festival will feature a historic walking tour; a plant and garden tent with decorative plants, flowers, herbs and garden accessories; children's crafts and games; live musical performances; and a variety of food and baked goods. More than 40 New England artisans will offer handmade wares, and the Dogwood Festival Art Show will feature local artists' spring-inspired works, available for purchase.

For information, visit http://www.greenfieldhillchurch.com/.