By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — Some Naples residents are envisioning green on the Village Green.

Red and green would be a more accurate color description. That’s because the select board-approved plans call for a trio of maple trees.

This week, three maples tree were put into the ground. On Wednesday, a two-man crew from Clement Brothers Lawn & Landscaping transplanted the 16-feet tall trees, which are a variety known as Red Sunset.

“This happened so quickly. It took less than two weeks. We wanted to show the community that the Parks and Land Use committees heard their concern,” according to Kathy Keinath, a member of the Naples Land Use Committee (LUC).

“Our idea is that the Causeway is lovely, but we feel the Village Green is the heart of town,” Keinath said. “We have to show that. This is the beginning of showing that we feel this is the heart of town. We have concerts here. We want to promote the community using this space more often.”

She was referring to the free concerts that take place on Sunday evenings during the summer.

Last week, LUC Chairman Dave Garcia revealed a landscaping plan to the Naples Select Board. Prior to that, the committee met with representatives from O’Donal’s Nursery, based in Gorham.

“We’ve been budgeted $3,000 for this year. We can do a few plantings and get some green going out there. We’d like to plant three maples. That will give shade for events like the summer concerts. It will beautify the town,” Garcia said.

The improvements to the village green are a response to losing about a half-dozen pines earlier this year. In February, a windstorm claimed one of the pines, which led to the discovery that the rest lacked adequate root systems and were dead or dying.

Maples are the answer, Garcia said.

Clement Bros. has agreed to plant the three maples for $2,900, Garcia said. Most of the nurseries do not plant trees, he said. This year, the tree-planting project was provided $3,000 from the town’s tree trimming budget. Also, there is $1,500 in the LUC’s budget that can be applied toward purchasing tree gator bags right away to help keep the trees watered.

“The issue is water,” Garcia said. “We think we can get the fire department to bring water in the fire truck. You don’t have to water them every day. They take a gator. Parks and Land use has $1,500, and we can use that to buy the gators,” Garcia said. “We want to buy the gators. We don’t want to spend $3,000 to have the trees die.”

Both Garcia and Keinath stressed that improving the landscaping is a multi-year project.

“Next year, after we get something down, we can plant small shrubs. Before that, we can put it in the budget request for next year. We would like to do staggered plantings,” Garcia said.

Keinath shared her excitement in getting citizens involved in the process of greening up the green.

“This project will be a multi-year project. We will be looking to the community for support. We’ve talked about doing a PR campaign to get businesses to support this project. We will have a list of trees and shrubs a person could purchase in the name of a loved one,” she said.

“Part of our proposal will be to put in an irrigation system, if feasible. We are going to invest a lot of time and energy and money into this area. Without keeping it watered, we are going to lose everything we plant,” Keinath said.

“We are going to get this done,” she said. 

On Wednesday morning, while the maples found a new home, a group of students from Lake Region Vocational Center were repairing the shingles on the gazebo roof —  all well before Memorial Day.

Additionally, sometime in the near future, a very dead Christmas tree will be professionally removed from the Village Green. The replacement tree is an evergreen growing at the edge of the playground.