By Gus Saltonstall
Upper West Sider Teressa Valla is an artist. She has also done her part to beautify a neighborhood block with an often-overlooked streetscape component.
Tree guards.
Valla has designed and created more than 15 tree guards on West 78th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues. She creates the guards through the use of recycled plastic, high density polyethylene, and then comes up with designs that reflect the patterns in the architecture on the block to “create visual harmony and interest.”
Valla told West Side Rag about the inspiration for her tree guard creations. “Why wouldn’t we care for our blocks?” she said. “When we walk out of where we live — brownstones, condos, apartments, etc. — and step into a shared natural world, we can collectively enhance the quality of lives for the community with relatively simple steps.”
From a practical standpoint, Valla added that the guards expand the soil bed for trees, provide more space for mulch and nourishment, protect against strong winds, and reduce the risk of uprooting young or newly planted trees.
Valla’s tree guards are installed farther away from the street curbs to ensure fewer impacts from car doors, plows, and sanitation trucks
She also makes sure the tree guards are protected against the ones that use them the most.
Dogs.
Dogs can try to discolor the deep-black, high-density polyethylene when they do their ‘business,’ [but] the material does not discolor or have to be repainted as is the case with wrought iron tree guards and fences.
Valla is a professional visual artist who specializes in painting, sculpture, and photography, but wanted to create the tree guards as a gift to her Upper West Side community.
“Planting flowers, disposing trash in receptacles, curbing dogs, and literally washing the sidewalk in front of your building are services to the community at large,” Valla told West Side Rag. “I have talked to many people while walking on their way to the American Museum of Natural History, and they remark on the beauty of our block.”
Valla worked with neighbors and the West 78th Street Museum Block Association to raise funds and organize the installation of the tree guards with the city. The tree guards were built and installed by a company, aptly named, City Tree Guards.
The longtime Upper West Sider first moved to the neighborhood to be near Central Park, and for her love of nature and trees.
“Creating public art is in the spirit of the Upper West Side. The history of the West Side had groups of artists, so the project is in that spirit,” Valla said.
You can check out more of Valla’s artwork on her website.
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How wonderful!
Thank you for your appreciations. Contact me at my website TeressaValla.com and I’ll keep you in touch concerning upcoming exhibitions, etc.
They look great.
Continually baffling and depressing 🙁 to see people put dogs into the flowers/tree beds…
Have been puzzled for a long time….who installs tree guards?
The City?
Buildings?
Is there a permission procedure?
Maria is correct. Anyone can pay to have a tree bed expanded and a tree guard installed. It’s done through the Parks Dept. and requires a permit. We did it for all the trees on my block some years ago. (The city has also been expanding tree beds throughout the city because it helps with storm runoff and encourages the root systems to grown down rather than up.)
I checked several years ago with Lincoln Sq BID about replacing the one in front of my building on W 64th and found out that there is a permit process required by the city to do so.
The city should make a deal with this artist!
Pee resistant ? Sign me up!
Thank you, I would work with the city!!
Contact me at TeressaValla.com
Share to Mastodon!
Valla, your love of nature, beauty, and trees, plus technical knowledge, and organizing talent and passion, are incredible! We are so fortunate to have you on earth and in the neighborhood. Thank you for all you do. I’m going to learn more about your strategies.
Thank you for your appreciation.
Thank you for being our good neighbor! If we all did one healthy, beautiful, or safe thing regularly for our ‘hood, what a wonderful world.
Ruby, I couldn’t agree with you more. Kindness can trickle beyond the act in countless ways.
These look great. But the article does not report an approximate cost, or how much citizens need to donate to fund more installations.
Contact me at TeressaValla.com, I’ll be happy to go into more detail.
Oh hello!!!!
These are stunning! Let’s install more of these please! We need more plants and trees and florals in our community! Let’s promote this
Hello Sally, Thank you for the compliments. It was a bigger project than expected and it came together. The block and fabricator were of course in the “mix,” to execute the final product. Keep in touch, my website is TeressaValla.com
Thank you Teressa Valla!!!
Elisabeth Jakab, You are welcome.
I love the tree guards-they are beautiful! Thank you so much!
One quick story. I was sitting outside at a restaurant and a woman takes her dog into a tree bed with flowers opposite my table for it to pee. There was a sign saying to curb your dog. I told her that she was not supposed to let her dog go there. She said “the dog can’t read”. What ever happened to the idea of curbing your dog? I rarely see any dog owners today curbing their dogs.
Joan, I agree with you. If it’s not the flowers, it’s the trees and out buildings, ugg. Keep in touch on my contact sheet-TeressaVall.com , Cheers, Teressa
Correction-The website is TeressaValla.com
Bike lanes and dining sheds have greatly reduced the area where a dog and owner can safely step off a curb to pee in the road. Also, what are the male dogs supposed to do? They go to the curb, loft their leg, amd pee on what?
Full disclosure, I have a girl dig andnout street has neither dining sheds not a bike lane so curbing is easier for us.
Thank you, Theresa Valla!
Thank you for the appreciation.
I absolutely love the idea. Looks beautiful. Thanks
Hello Mad, I hope you’re having a fine day. Thank you for your attention.
True neighborhood spirit. What a beautiful thing.
As one who lives on a block that was among the first to put tree guards around every tree (admittedly commercial ones, but nice ones), I have to comment on how unbelievably selfish most dog owners are.
I “get” that they cannot always make their dog “go” where THEY want them to go, so they simply let the dog “go” wherever it wants, including on tree guards (most of which get rusted or discolored by the acids in urine) or, even worse, in tree pits (where uric acid can damage the trees themselves.
If dog owners were more patient, and had better trained dogs, the dog would go where the owner “expects” them to go, and not on or in tree pits.
Ian, Thank you for your comments. We each need to give input where improvements can be made in our community. Keep in touch, TeressaValla.com , Best, Regards
It seems to me there has been an upswing over the past few years, whereas previously people were more mindful.
Now people proactively take their dogs into the flower beds & tree guard area.
Thank you!
Three cheers for Theressa Valla! Gus, I’d love to know more about the process she uses to make these guards. You say “She creates the guards through the use of recycled plastic, high density polyethylene. But are they 3-D printed, hand-fabricated, composed of ready-made elements, etc.? Those of us who love trees and love to make things are curious.
Carmella, I would be happy to speak with you about the process from point zero through installation. A Parks Department Permit is needed and a fabricator to realize the original designs into a 3D format. Contact me through my website, TeressaValla.com
https://citytreeguards.com/ built them using her designs.
Very nice. I hope this continues.
Will, Thank you very much. Teressa
To be clear, the tree guards were built and installed by City Tree Guards, https://citytreeguards.com. They did a wonderful job of incorporating Teressa’s designs.