It’s unusual for a city to have its own nursery. $45,000 started one in a WA cemetery

Angelica Relente
Updated ·2 min read

Some may be unaware that the cemetery in Sumner has space dedicated to the living, too.

The cemetery has a 1-acre plot, facing state Route 167, where over 100 young trees stand. The tree nursery offers the city “the best of both worlds,” city spokesperson Carmen Palmer said.

“We’re stewards of the public’s money, so we didn’t want to blow it on very expensive trees,” Palmer said.

The trees are used to replace old or damaged ones in city parks and along city streets. Palmer said the nursery is close to the freeway because the cemetery has extra space there.

The city is growing trees such as dogwood, pear and maple. It takes about three years for trees to mature, parks supervisor Dan Gates said. Gates is also the city’s arborist.

The city received a $45,000 grant from the state in 2016, which it used to purchase “cheap little sticks,” Palmer said. It was cheaper to purchase a sapling and let it grow compared to buying mature trees, she said.

That funding paid for the trees, water lines and other infrastructure it takes to run the nursery.

There are no signs around the tree nursery to indicate what is there. When asked why, Palmer said: “We don’t want anyone mistaking it for a place where they can go get their tree.”

The tree nursery isn’t a public space, so the city can let nature do its thing. It doesn’t take a lot of staff time or money to maintain the space, Palmer said. There’s a battery-operated controller on each row that waters the trees.

City staff have plans to plant 40 columnar European hornbeam trees along Rivergrove Drive East on Saturday, April 22, which is also Earth Day. Palmer said she doesn’t know of any other cities in the county that have their own tree nurseries.

Sumner has been a Tree City USA member for many years, Palmer said. The program offers communities a framework to maintain and increase the number of public trees in the vicinity.

“It means we highly value trees as being part of our community,” Palmer said.