Some Race Street Pier trees are losing leaves

Some of the trees on the new Race Street Pier park are dropping leaves.

The majority of the 37 large, white swamp oak trees – surplus from those grown for the 9-11 memorial in New York City -seem to have snuggled nicely into their planters at the new park. Late Thursday morning, about half a dozen people were enjoying their shade.

But a few trees’ leaves are turning brown and falling off.

“It seems that the high wind conditions are stressing them a bit,” Delaware River Waterfront Corporation Vice President for Operations and Development Joe Forkin said in an email. “We have been coordinating with the nursery to correct (the problem) and are following their recommendations,” he said.
Smaller trees were always part of the Race Street Pier plan, but when these ones, which are more than 20-feet tall, became available, DRWC launched a fund-raising effort to pay for them.
The trees are guaranteed, Forkin said, so the nursery will replace any that don’t make it.

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