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PROJECT:
City project,
St. Paul, Minnesota
LANDSCAPING:
Timberland Outdoor Services,
Savage, Minnesota
O, Christmas Tree
BY LAUREN HEARTSILL DOWDLE
Landscapers fight obstacles to light up a city
T
imberland Outdoor Services (timberlandoutdoorservices.com) illuminated St. Paul's parks, streets and holiday season with towering beacons of light. They wrapped 435 trees throughout the city – including 189
street trees, 93 trees in plazas, 150 trees in parks and three Christmas trees they transported to the site – ranging from 100-string lights per tree to ones the Griswolds would be proud to call their own. The three Christmas trees reached from 40 to 75 feet in height and were adorned with more than
20,000 LED lights each. With a tight, five-week deadline, the most challenging
To have your project
aspect of the project for the landscapers was coordinating between their staff and
featured, e-mail
the various departments of the City and other jurisdictions, says Carl Gillies, Timhigh-resolution
photos, a description
berland's lead designer. "We worked closely with the City electricians to combat
of the project and
any electrical issues we ran into, such as bad outlets, repairs to their infrastructure
the name of your
and the installation of temporary electrical panels," he says. To limit the amperage
business to
used per circuit, they grouped the trees and arranged them to fit into the 14-amp
pattyvaughan
@randallreilly.com
limit. And learning from past issues, they applied a special spicy mix on the lighting strings to repel squirrels and mice from chewing on the wires.
48 TOTAL LANDSCAPE CARE / December 2012
