A group of Jefferson DeFrees Family Center preschoolers helped City Arborist Joe Reinke plant a “Miss Kim” lilac tree along Second Ave. Reinke said it’s the third year he’s helped the center’s students plant a tree in that area.

“The kids loved it,” he said, noting that his aim is to “try to make it a teaching moment.”

The lilac is just one of many trees that will be planted this spring throughout the city.

Reinke said a total of 45 trees will be planted this spring — 20 in parks and 25 in street right of ways. The park trees will replace trees damaged by beavers in Crescent Park as well as storm damage at Betts Park and Washington Park.

Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton Marcus gets his hands dirty planting a tree on Second Avenue.

The majority of those trees will be planted April 8 and 9.

That’s a little sooner than some years; Reinke said the city plans tree planting around the Spring Clean-Up initiative. If the snow is off the ground before the cleanup, the trees will go in before cleanup. That’s the city’s target for 2021.

A total of 20 of the trees were purchased through a grant from the Pennsylvania Urban and Community Forest Council.

Each of the trees costs between $79 and $100. The city, Reinke explains, like to buy the trees of a sufficient size to provide some “instant gratification” in beautification efforts.

Perennially a Tree City USA, the city is planning the annual Arbor Day festivities for April 30 at noon at Wetmore Park at Fourth Avenue and Market Street.