ADDING TREES TO THE MANHATTAN SKYLINE
16
The Davey Bulletin | May/June 2017
A high-end Manhattan client tested
the skills of Davey's New York crew
on a challenging installation with
high expectations.
The Alfred, a full-service, 36-story
condominium in Lincoln Square,
Manhattan, needed a courtyard
landscape renovation to fit its
luxurious appeal.
"I've been doing this for 44 years, and
I've never done a project like this," said
David Vater, sales arborist, Long Island
Residential/Commercial Services.
Thorough and well-researched, Vater's
client created a very specific vision
for pleached hornbeams to be installed
in a courtyard standing above the
condominium's 75-foot indoor lap pool.
"Pleached hornbeams are mostly
found in the United Kingdom,"
Vater said. "They are commonly
used as floating hedges within
their landscapes."
To recreate this decidedly British
characteristic, the crew first had to
find this non-native tree in the United
States. Luckily, the sprawling Bold
Spring Nursery in Georgia raises this
rare species.
MY DAVEY
Vater, determined to find the perfect
pleached hornbeams for his client,
started his 700-plus-mile journey first
by flying from New York City to
Georgia and then getting in a car and
driving two hours to the nursery.
"My job was to pick out 14 symmetrical
trees – with the same size, height and
width," Vater said. "This took me
several hours riding around the nursery."
Finally, after finding the best grouping
of trees, Vater once again made his
way to the airport and flew back to
New York City to start the project.
The second aspect of the project yield-
ed the crew's main challenges. First,
Vater and his crew, including Charles
Deonarine, Alex Deonarine, Ulises
Martinez, Hanan Sorto and Steve
Jones, spent an entire day laying
The Long Island R/C crew (pictured left
to right) Ulises Martinez, David Vater,
Alex Deonarine, Charles Deonarine and
Jesstin Smith.
Lincoln Center, located in Manhattan's
upper west side in New York, New York,
is home to The Alfred building.
The Long Island R/C crew used a 9,000-pound
skid steer to maneuver 14 trees through a
tight alleyway to the courtyard.
