On breaks and at lunch time, Brad Gluth and other employees in Oak Harbor’s public works department head outside to care for some leafy youngsters.

They carefully water and weed dozens of Garry oak seedlings in plastic containers. Gluth even bought lady bugs to help keep the baby trees free of bothersome aphids.

If all goes well, the trees will be planted at sites across the city in an attempt to restore the city’s namesake trees to their former abundant glory.

The smallest of the trees were recently donated for a new project that city staff members have spearheaded, with support from the Oak Harbor Garden Club. The proposal is to plant a “Centennial Oak Grove” with 100 Garry oak trees on the former Boyer property at the north end of the city.

That’s the large open space on State Highway 20 at the intersection with Fakkema Road.

The success of the program, Gluth said, depends entirely on community support since the city hasn’t dedicated money to the project. Organizers are asking for contributions in the form of money and materials, as well as volunteer help.

For $100, a person can sponsor a tree and receive a commemorative certificate. Information about the project and how to support it is on the city’s website at www.oakharbor.org.

Gluth, a civil engineer who owns many of the trees on his own property, is the city’s de facto Garry oak guy. He said he’s been urging the city for years to create an oak grove on the Boyer property. The city’s centennial celebration this year turned out to be a perfect opportunity to move forward with the project.

He noted that the city loses one or two of the large oak trees each year; he said mass plantings should have been done years ago.

“It’s part of the heritage of the city,” he said. “It wouldn’t be Oak Harbor without the oaks.”

In a complex deal about eight years ago, the city ended up owning the 18-acre Boyer property. Island County, city and Navy officials worked together on the land deal in order to protect Whidbey Island Naval Air Station from encroaching development.

At one point, Walmart looked at the property for possible development, but officials were worried about the dangers of building a store so close to the end of Navy runways.

Gluth said the property has three levels of protections from development. It’s within the county’s noise zone, the county owns an easement on it and it’s zoned as open space.

The plan is to plant the 100 oaks on the site in November. Most of the trees will be saplings, which Gluth described as six to eight feet tall.

Home Depot and Walmart have already donated some materials for the project. Gluth said he still needs things like soil amendments, weed fabric and stakes.

Once the trees are planted, the city will likely set up irrigation for the trees, he said.

Then in 20 or 30 years, people who drive into Oak Harbor from the north end will no longer wonder how the city got its name.