When Ward 54 gives you lemons… will you make lemonade?
An official tree planting day is planned for October 1.
Pretoria’s ward 54 held a drive recently to collect and plant fruit trees in the area.
Ward councillor Elma Nel thanked the residents who donated the trees.
She said it was curious that instead of different types of fruit, ward 54 residents solely brought lemon trees.
“I was hoping that the ward would receive a variety of fruit trees as requested but we got 15 lemon trees, which I am still very thankful for,” said Nel.
She said the plan was to plant the fruit trees in different areas around the ward as recommended by the residents themselves.
“In 30 or 50 years from now, people are going to remember us as the residents who planted lemon trees so they could just walk across the road and pick lemons,” continued Nel.
The areas that can expect new fruit trees include: 132 Daphne Avenue (Mountain View), Klipkoppies heritage site, Leonide Street (Mountain View), Meyer Street (Mountain View), 23rd and 24th avenues (Rietfontein) and the open corners on 5th Avenue (Mayville) and Hertzog Street (Wonderboom South).
Nel also explained that more trees may be planted in city parks through the ward, but they were still negotiating with the metro for permission.
“Open spaces involve municipality or better known as city council land and this is where we will plant, in current parks, it is more difficult as we will have to obtain permission from the Park Council if we want to plant there,” explained Nel.
The initiative was birthed when the ward hosted a community braai and clean-up operation at the Fred Nicholson Bridge recently, at which Nel expressed her wish for the community to come up with initiatives to build stronger bonds.
Nel also thanked ward 54 resident Natasha Roselt, who collected the trees from the Tshwane metro’s Booysen nursery and delivered them to ward 54 chairperson Priscilla Pannell.
An official plant day is in the works for October 1.
“We are encouraging other residents to partake in the movement and currently asking private nurseries for additional fruit tree donations like apples and pears to leave for the generations after us. Every tree will also have a resident responsible for watering it until it is self-sustaining,” concluded Nel.
ALSO READ: 100 trees planted in Nellmapius – residents taught to care of them
Do you have more information about the story?
Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
