For the main part, when the District plants a tree on one of the tree boxes around town, it’s a happy occasion. It’s also a big responsibility, knowing that you have to keep it watered so that it can one day contribute to the healthy tree canopy of the District.
This was not the case with the tree the city planted in the box near neighbors Dan and Caitlin Rogger’s house on Outlaw Way.
The tree was, in one word, dead.
Dan summarized it best: “When we asked [the city] to assess it, they sent someone round whose assessment was that it was full of life. As you saw, it is not.” Caitlin added, “Dan’s efforts to persuade DDOT Trees that the tree was dead on arrival reminded me of the Monty Python sketch about the dead parrot: ‘It’s dead, that’s what’s wrong with it.” “No, it’s…it’s resting.'”
So what do you do when you’re a bit stuck with a dead tree? You turn the tree into a flagpole! The DC flag currently, um, waving over 10th Street NE is special, too: It flew over the Wilson building before greeting visitors to Outlaw Way.
Here is a round of applause for our neighbors making tasty lemonade out of some very dead lemons. If you want to see the flag in person, as well as the beautiful herbs growing in containers all around the block, go visit the 200 block of 10th Street NE, also known as Outlaw Way. Thank you, neighbors.