Street Tree Sale, Spring 2021
Tree-lined streets are a distinctive part of Swarthmore’s landscape. As the borough’s website says, street trees “create a canopy that arches over the streets and sidewalks, providing shade, beauty, and many other environmental and aesthetic qualities. They help to clean the air and reduce pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide, as well as maintain a habitat for birds, animals, and insects. A tree canopy helps reduce the heat of summer, and trees planted near homes help to reduce energy costs by providing summer shade and winter wind blocks.”
Trees count as “street trees” when they are planted 25 feet or less from the centerline of the street. They are often planted between the curb and a sidewalk, but even streets without sidewalks have street trees.
Young trees are now available from the Swarthmore Borough’s Tree Committee for residents who wish to plant a new street tree this spring, or to replace one that has been lost. Only a limited number of trees are available. Order forms can be downloaded from the borough website. The cost of a new tree is $200. (This includes planting and mulching, provided by the borough.) Trees will be planted this spring, as weather permits. For more information, contact Karol Bock at 484-472-8639. The deadline for ordering is March 1.
Large to Medium-sized Trees
These are not to be planted under utility lines. If planted in a curb strip (the space between the sidewalk and the curb), the strip must be at least 5 feet wide.
Platanus x acerifolia — ‘Morton Circle’. This new selection of London plane trees (60 feet tall) is exceptional in its bark display: It has a mottled brown, green, and tan bark that peels off to reveal patches of interior bark in shades that vary from cream to white. This tree is highly resistant to powdery mildew and to anthracnose (a fungal disease that affects the young foliage growth of this species). London plane trees are tolerant of urban conditions such as poor drainage, compacted soil, high pH, and occasional drought. They have a strong central main trunk and a uniform, strongly upright pyramidal shape.
Quercus bicolor. The swamp white oak is a native tree. It has lined Magill Walk on the Swarthmore College campus since the 1880s. This tree has a rounded crown at maturity and will reach 60 feet tall. Its autumn color is yellow.
Quercus imbricaria. The shingle oak is a medium-sized (40- to 60-foot-tall) shade tree native to the eastern and midwestern U.S. It tolerates a wide variety of soils and can withstand some drought once established. It has oval-shaped leaves that are glossy and dark green and turn yellow-brown to red-brown in the autumn. The tree came to be called “shingle oak” because early European settlers in the Midwest used its wood to make roof shingles.
Tilia americana — ‘Redmond’. This is a cultivated variety of our native American linden. It is a pyramidal-shaped tree that grows 40 to 60 feet tall and prefers a well-drained soil in full-to-partial sun. Once established, it will tolerate drought. Lindens flower in early summer and have a distinctive sweet floral fragrance. Their leaves are oval and turn light yellow in autumn.
Medium-sized to Small Trees
Suitable for planting under utility lines and in narrower curb strips (less than 5 feet wide).
Carpinus caroliniana — American hornbeam (also called ironwood). This native tree reaches 20 to 30 feet in height and has a rounded outline. Its small-to-medium-sized leaves are dark green in summer and change to yellow, orange and scarlet in autumn. Older branches have an attractive winter look, with smooth, gray, muscled-looking bark.
Syringa reticulata — ‘Ivory Silk’. In June, this Japanese tree has lilac flowers with large clusters of white blossoms. Not to be confused with the shrubby, spring-flowering lilacs, the tree lilac has cherry-like bark and reaches 25 to 30 feet tall at maturity.
