Katy, TX News – Tree Planting in New Master-Planned Community
Katy, TX News (December 16, 2014) – A two-year effort to strategically plant close to 2,000 trees and transplant a collection of treasured live oaks is now well underway in Cane Island.
Environmental Design recently completed the delicate task of moving 23, lush live oaks, ranging from 25-30 years old, whose beautiful, wide-spread canopies will shade green spaces, the community’s Amenity Village and amphitheater. Two spacious tree houses with decks, both offering elevated views of the amphitheater, also will be built around the trees. The healthy live oaks, from 30-45 feet tall, were moved from the east side of the property.
“These trees are priceless,” noted David Marks, president of Environmental Design, whose firm used its patented air bag system as the safest, most reliable way to move the trees with larger root balls. “We’re very pleased with the outcome. The cooler weather was ideal for the project.”
Marks adds a certified arborist will monitor the health of the transplanted trees over the next couple of years by watering, fertilizing and adding mulch as necessary to ensure they become established in their new setting. “These trees are like our children,” he says.
While specialists monitor the replanted, established live oaks, work crews under the watchful eye of Katy’s Rusty Regenbrecht are aiming to plant an additional 1,000 Live Oaks, Water Oaks, Pines and Crepe Myrtles by the end of the year.
“When it comes to trees, the development team is going all out,” says Regenbrecht, president of Regenbrecht Shade Trees. “They wanted a wooded community look and that’s exactly what they’re getting.”
Crews will use water trucks to irrigate the newly planted trees, he adds, until a permanent irrigation system is installed in Cane Island, and plans call for another 400-500 trees to be planted in 2015 and about 400 in 2016.
Named after the 1872 settlement which later became Katy, the Cane Island master-planned community will be accessible from Interstate 10 at the new Cane Island Parkway interchange, scheduled to open in 2015. The four-lane, north-south boulevard, less than four miles west of the Grand Parkway, will serve as the entry to Cane Island and the major thoroughfare through the community to Morton Road.
