The Oak Bluffs select board voted 4-0, with one member absent, to approve a tree species change for the Circuit Avenue streetscape project.
On the recommendation of Tim Wong of the Waterfield Design Group and Tim Boland, executive director of Polly Hill Arboretum, the board nixed Callery pears (also known as Bradford pears) in favor of ‘Ivory Silk’ lilac trees.
Select board chair Brian Packish said 12 pear trees were removed from Circuit Avenue, and 14 of the new trees will be planted. Packish said the pear trees were planted in 1979, and likely had their best bloom last year.
Wong said originally his group intended to install a callery pear cultivar that wasn’t deemed invasive, like the Bradford was. However, after receiving feedback, the lilac tree was chosen instead.
Landscaper Mark Crossland, a subcontractor on the streetscape job, said, “I think it will be a beautiful tree.”
Boland said the ‘Ivory Silk’ tree lilac hails from Japan, and is tolerant of street and aerosol salts.
He said the tree flowers later and larger than the previous pears, and is sweet-smelling, but not as fragrant as a “bush-type” lilac.
Hummingbirds and bees like tree lilacs, Boland said, and the bark is very ornamental in the wintertime. However, he noted the tree has less exciting fall foliage than the pears did. “It’s a very striking tree,” Boland said. “The bloom time, depending on how warm it is, lasts about 10 days.”
Crossland said he expects the trees will be 14 to 16 feet tall.
Sounds very nice!