Tree Planting in Care Home Gardens

We at the Rotary Club of Leven, were determined to meet the worldwide Rotary goal, set by Rotary International President Ian Riseley, to plant one tree for every Rotarian member by Earth Day on 22^nd April 2018.

After much thought and deliberation one of our members came upon the idea of planting fruit trees.  All the members liked the idea of fruit trees, which would produce something that the local community could use.  We knew that they couldn’t go in public parks or schools due to vandalism so after careful consideration we decided that we would divide them up between 5 local care homes, providing each with five trees.

The care homes were delighted with our idea and were more than happy to receive the fruit trees for their garden. 

We purchased the 2 year old fruit trees from a local supplier and awaited their delivery.  The trees arrived the last week in March and were duly planted in the care home gardens, the residents were very curious and came out to see what was going.  Although none of the residents were able to help with the physical work, they did have lots of advice on how it should be done and were happy to chat as the Rotarians worked to plant the trees.

Each care home got two Blenheim Orange Apple, this is very vigorous tree is suitable for northerly, colder, higher rainfall areas and the apples can be eaten fresh or cooked in the care homes kitchens, two Doyenne du Comice Pear widely considered to have the best flavour of any pear, and one Victoria (Wavit) Plum tree, this is perhaps the most popular of all plum trees thanks to its reliable fruits and its combination of both dessert and culinary plums.  We expect the fruit trees to produce their first crop in two years and we hope that not only will the care homes get the benefit of the trees as they grow to cosmetically enhance their gardens, but when the fruit comes they will be able to use the fruit for residents and visitors alike.

We are delighted to have met RI President Riseley’s challenge and also provided something that will provide an annual crop of fruit to the care homes.