trees

Like a summer snowfall, cottonwood seeds blanket region

Jul 16, 2025

If you’ve looked up lately — or cleaned your air conditioner filter — you’ve likely noticed it: a blizzard of white fluff floating through the air across southeastern Minnesota. It’s not snow, but the seeds of the eastern cottonwood tree, making their seasonal debut. Every summer, female...

The Amazing Leaf

Oct 30, 2024

This, the third article published in the Lake City Graphic this summer relating to tree and plant science, provides additional information about the amazing leaf. Did you know that leaves can help protect themselves by synthesizing chemicals that are so foul tasting that leaf-eating predators are...

Plants make the glucose our brains need

Sep 25, 2024

Did you know that the leaves of trees and plants can manufacture glucose out of thin air? Well, almost. Leaves need water, air, and photons from the sun (or photons from artificial light sources such as light emitting diodes, LEDs), to manufacture oxygen and glucose. This process is called...

Think about saving the cottonwood trees

Dec 27, 2023

Has anyone been thinking about the Cottonwood trees along the lake and how we are going to lose them? I have and I think it will be a wrong move to chop them down. We need the trees for their beauty, their resting places for the eagles we love to watch and just because they have been there so...

Protect yourself by removing diseased trees from your property

Jul 26, 2023

We see them everywhere now, along the highways and in our own backyards, trees that have been infested with Emerald Ash Borer, and trees stressed by the droughts and storms of the last few years. They are either completely dead or have large dead branches. The City of Lake City removed 145...

Foundation: Tree donation match response is excellent

May 18, 2022

The initial response to the Greater Lake City Foundations Community Trees $5,000 matching gift initiative has been excellent, the foundation reports, with over $3,400 received after two weeks. Anyone interested in donating to this program can send a check to The Greater Lake City Community...

Chemical use threatens trees

May 11, 2022

Patton Park is Lake City’s central and historical park. Many residents and visitors wander through it, especially in summer. This spring, Patton Park is in sad condition. Chemicals that have been sprayed around each tree, bush, post, and bench (anything that doesn’t move) kill the grass and weeds...

Foundation announces tree planting initiative

Apr 20, 2022

The Greater Lake City Community Foundation, under its “Community Beautification” thrust, has announced a new fundraising initiative to provide financial support for planting more trees throughout our community. Spearheaded by a gift from Dean and Joanne Flugstad, this effort will match...

Forestry committee: Trees please

Jan 12, 2022

Imagine for a moment living in a place with no trees. Where would you go for shade on a hot day, what kind of wildlife would you see, how barren would the landscape look? Lake City has long been known for its pleasing canopy of trees, some of which are hundreds of years old. But age, disease, and...

Donation brings 45 trees to city parks

Sep 29, 2021

New trees are popping up in parks around Lake City thanks to a donation from Dean and Joanne Flugstad, and Deirdre Flesche and Dag Knudsen. Dean and Deirdre are members of the Lake City Forestry Advisory Committee, which identified a need for trees in city parks. The problem is that the city has...