Help for street trees

Q. “What are your suggestions for street trees? Some will be under wires, some not.”

Rebecca from Poland

A. Trees provide tremendous benefits. Trees planted along the street increase property values, improve air quality, reduce heating and cooling costs, and reduce traffic noise.

Whenever talking tree selection, there are two phrases I repeat and stress: “right plant, right place” and “diversity, diversity and diversity.”

When determining trees to be planted between along the street, considerations include the tree’s function, form, mature size, and site preferences.

If you have a space with a wide planting area, no utilities, a decent soil type and good drainage, you should be choosing a larger tree that can provide the most benefits. In comparison, some sites are very limiting including overhead utilities, small planting strips or wells.

Days of monocultures, or the same tree planted over and over, should be a practice of the past. Although replication provides a uniform and clean appearance, the risk of total loss is something that is fresh on our minds as the emerald ash borer has decimated ash trees.

Though diversity doesn’t mean that every tree planted in a community should be unique or different, communities may reduce the same trees to blocks and not entire streets.

Before choosing new trees, know what you already have. If a tree inventory tells you that half of the street tree canopy is maple, the recommendation would be to choose trees that are not maples.

There are new varieties and cultivars, each with unique characteristics and size. Here are some links to help:

Buckeye Yard and Garden Line (BYGL), Woody of the Week at http://bygl.osu.edu.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources has a list of 100 trees on their website at http://forestry.ohiodnr.gov/trees.

Eric Barrett is OSU Extension educator for agriculture and natural resources in Mahoning County. Call the office hotline at 330-533-5538 to submit your questions.