Concrete tree decorates Mqt.

A Marquette artist and inventor has decorated downtown Marquette with one of his unique creations.

Earl Senchuk has been making artificial trees for years, and he was recently looking for a home for one of them.

The area had to be sheltered from strong winds.

The small patch of land next to the Marquette Post Office on Washington Street caught his attention.

“This turned out to be a perfect spot,” Senchuk said. “I happened to be dropping off some mail. I mentioned to the girl behind the counter, ‘do you mind if I plant a sculpture here?’, and she said, ‘let me buzz the supervisor’. He was right there, and one thing led to another, and here we are.”

The tree itself is made out of concrete, but the petunias that Earl placed on it this afternoon are very real.

Each of his trees contains an artifical watering system.

“There’s a plumbing system that runs up inside of it,” Senchuk said. “It splits to each of the branches, and then there’s two drip emitters that go into each pot. That’s how it gets watered up to four times a day, and it’s all programmed.”

He also says he wants to work with the Marquette Beautification Committee to continue to decorate that area.