Big shade trees deserve a high five for the many benefits they provide. They cool our cities while delivering a suite of environmental and health benefits. A handful of reasons to plant trees like those featured here begins with the most obvious:
Big shade trees reduce energy costs via direct shading of buildings and pavement and reduce temperatures via evapotranspiration. Indirectly, their community-wide passive cooling reduces demand for costly electricity generated by fossil, solar and other methods and saves billions of dollars each year through reduced energy costs. According to USDA Forest Service research, urban and community trees reduce residential energy use by an average of 7.2 percent.
Trees act as natural air filters. Leaves scrub the air of pollutants including harmful particulate matter as they do the essential work of converting CO2 to oxygen. They remove CO2 from the air, converting it to carbon that is stored in their branches, trunks and roots.
Trees make vital contributions to the onsite management of stormwater. Their leaves capture and absorb rainfall and help to reduce runoff and prevent soil erosion.
The total value of the health benefits of trees is incalculable, with more discoveries being made every year. Studies show that trees provide essential health benefits including improved mental health and public health, with far too many to list here. Discover more of their many benefits from The Nature Conservancy and from US Forest Service research.
Trees also increase property values, support pollinators and wildlife, contribute to crime reduction, influence higher test scores among student learners, and much more. Get started on your journey to understanding and appreciating the value of trees. And then get out there and plant more trees as though our lives depend on it. Because they do!
Human Dimensions of Urban Forestry
Benefits of plants: Economic, Environmental, Health & Well-Being
Redpointe® Maple
Acer rubrum ‘Frank Jr.’ PP 16769
Redpointe® Maple combines the refined form and foliage of the best Acer rubrum cultivars with the urban tolerance and faster growth rate typical of Acer freemanii. Rich, dark green summer foliage, brilliant red fall color, pyramidal street tree form and well behaved, balanced growth to a height and spread of 45’ x 35’ make it an easy-care tree in the nursery and on the street.
Improved disease and insect resistance, heat and drought tolerance, plus tolerance of higher pH soils, and adaptability to urban growing conditions are among reasons to choose this exceptional urban tree. Introduced in 2006, it has become our best-selling tree thanks to its outstanding performance and adaptability.
28″ 2″ caliper is pictured
Greenspire® Linden
Malus ‘Schmidtcutleaf’
The standard of comparison among the Lindens, this 1961 introduction of Princeton Nursery is undoubtedly the most widely planted of the lindens, and for good reason. It has a strong central leader, very uniform branch arrangement and maintains a symmetrical, pyramidal form as it reaches a height and spread of about 40’ x 30’.
Per Dirr and Warren in The Tree Book, “If a contest were held for the tree with the ideal pyramidal shape, this would be the winner.” Clean, dark green foliage turns yellow in autumn. Hardiness is USDA Zone 4.
#25 1.75″ caliper is pictured
Exclamation!® Planetree
Platanus acerifolia ‘Morton Circle’
The perfect symmetry of this improved Planetree demands attention wherever it is planted. Its upright pyramidal canopy is shaped by a strong central leader and well-spaced, upright-angled branches that make it an easy-care favorite of growers, landscape architects and arborists. A carefree performer on city streets, this tall and majestic shade maker is urban tolerant and resistant to anthracnose and powdery mildew. Light-fruiting habit and resistance to frost cracking are additional reasons to plant this remarkably adaptable urban tree. Symmetrical and mannerly growth habit make it easy to manage in the nursery and in the landscape. Mature height and spread are approximately 55’ x 35’.
A top performer among crosses made in the 1980’s at Morton Arboretum, Exclamation!® Planetree is a hybrid of an unusually anthracnose-resistant North American native sycamore Platanus occidentalis and the naturally resistant Platanus orientalis.
#25 1.75″ caliper is pictured
Redmond Linden
Tilia americana ‘Redmond’
The big leaves of this outstanding and very successful street tree cast deep shade while staying fresh and dark green through the summer months. In addition to its being a formal, sturdy, easy-care tree, its small yellow flowers have a delightful fragrance that floats on the summer breeze. Fall color is yellow. This time-tested cultivar was selected in Nebraska in 1942 and has proven over the years to be very adaptable and hardy (Zone 3) and adaptable.
#25 1.75″ caliper is pictured
Red Oak
Quercus rubra
Thriving in diverse settings across the continent, this particularly adaptable North American native tree performs well in a variety of landscape settings. Tolerant of urban air pollution and resistant to Verticillium wilt, this fast-growing, broad headed tree is a valuable oak for lawns, parks, golf courses, commercial areas, boulevards, and other landscapes where a fast-maturing, durable and long-lived shade tree is needed.
Birds and other wildlife depend on its foliage and acorns as a source of food and shelter. Its rich, dark green leaves turn to a dark red in the fall. Maturing to a height of about 50 feet and spread of 45 feet, it is hardy to USDA Zone 4.
Planted in cities for well over a century, Red Oak was offered for the first time by JFS in our 1981-82 catalog which states that “this species has acquired a reputation for tolerating industrial air pollution.”
#25 1.75″ caliper is pictured
Village Green™ Zelkova
Zelkova serrata ‘Village Green’
Pioneering nurseryman William Flemer III foresaw the enduring value of this cultivar when he introduced it in 1964. The Princeton Nursery introduction remains popular today, thanks to its vigorous growth and vase-shaped canopy that reaches a height and spread of approximately 40’x40’. Faster growing and narrower than the species, its mature canopy is somewhat wider and more rounded than that of Green Vase®. Dense, dark green foliage turns to rusty red in autumn.
28″ 2.5″ caliper is pictured
