On a chilly, but sunny Saturday morning, over 100 volunteers came out to help us plant 70 trees and 10 bushes as part of a riparian buffer along the headwaters of a small stream in Catonsville, Maryland known as Thistle Run, located adjacent to the Patapsco Horse Center off of Frederick Road. This area has been on the Friends of Patapsco Valley & Heritage Greenway's targeted tree planting area for several years. In 2011, we were able to establish a partnership with Patapsco State Park and the Maryland DNR Ecosystem Restoration Watershed Services to conduct a tree planting along this stream; we marked areas for five different species of trees and bushes to be planted, including 40 Sycamore Trees, 10 Red Osier Dogwood bushes, 10 Black Gum trees, 10 Willow Oak Trees and 10 Pin Oak Trees. A lot of planning is involved with a tree planting. On Wednesday, November 2, volunteers game out to mark where the trees were to be planted and flags were placed with symbols to identify the type of species to be planted at each location. On Friday, November 5, volunteers helped with the acceptance of the delivery of the trees, bushes and supplies and organized them in preparation for Saturday's tree planting.

Aside from our wonderful Patapsco Heritage Greenway members and other individuals who just came out to lend a helping hand, the following groups came out to help: W.R. Grace Green Team, Community College of Baltimore Catonsville Campus' Phil Theta Kappa, Howard Community College students from Phil Theta Kappa, Rouse Scholars and Environmental Science students, U.M.B.C. students, Community college of Carroll County students, Middle School students from Windsor Middle, Sudbrook Middle and Catonsville Middle Schools, Mid Atlantic Hiking Group, Friends of Patapsco State Park, Cub scouts from Troop 373, Troop 65 and Troop 540, Howard County Legacy Leadership for the Environment, Woodlawn High School students, and help from Volunteer Ranger Jamie Petucci and our other friends from Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection & Sustainability, Patapsco State Park and Maryland DNR!

We also named many of our trees in memory of some special people, including Teddy Betts (former PHG member who passed away last year), Conor James O'Sullivan (family and friends recently send donations to us in his memory to help pay for some supplies). Other volunteers named them after themselves or some other interesting names, including: Fred, Samantha, Wilson, Fiona, Jerry, Razor, Sherbert the Willow, Felsha, Kiester, Pokey, Squibby, Rock, Airy, Smokey, Bob, Frank, Fred, Randy, Orten, Herman, Jeff, Jeremy, Worm (named the tree after a worm they found...see photo), Timmy, Sudbrook, Zoom, Phi, Theta and Kappa!

Special thanks to our Tree Captain Team who helped everything run so smoothly that day including: Betsy McMillion, Tim Titus, Jeff Klein, Jamie Petrucci, Ted Willard, Ken Smith, Pat Hatton, Rob Flint, Marion Flint, Kathy Swan, Jennifer Furman, Laura Bartock, Kit Valentine, The Segal Family, Justin McMillion and Mark Jennys! We would also like to thank the WR Grace Green Team for their donation of additional bottled water for our volunteers and Dionysus' Kitchen for hot coffee! An unexpected, but appreciated, donation that our chilly helpers appreciated!

What a difference dedicated volunteers can make in just a few hours! Thanks again!