Greenville's trees are dying

[G'ville-gal]

Rested Traveler,

Live Oak and Willow Oak look similar but Live Oaks hold onto their green leaves in the winter and stay mostly evergreen.

The Willow Oak has leaves that turn in the fall and drop.

[thehappysmith]

I'm sad to see the replacement of our maples with Allee elms. Not that the maples don't need to go; maples are rarely the right choice for urban environments because of their shallow root systems and low mechanical damage tolerance. Poor choices made in the past on that.

But the Allee is a cultivar of Ulmus parvifolia, the Chinese Elm. Can we please, please plant a native tree species? Really? Every bleeding tree disease we're suffering from in this country comes from this mindless importation of foreign vegetation. Chestnut Blight? China or Japan. Dutch Elm? Actually native to Tibet. Hemlock Wooly Adelgid? China. Emerald Ash Borer? China and Korea. Cottony Cushion Scale? New Zealand. Citrus Canker? Southeast Asia. Even Oak Wilt is from Manchuria and eastern Russia; about the only native North American tree diseases that have the capacity to be truly devastating are pine bark borers (which are only a problem in monoculture pine plantations) and Beech Bark Disease, which is probably from Europe anyway.

Yes, I know the Allee trees in question have been bred here in this country (developed in Canada), but at some point we need to realize that we don't know what we're doing when we import these species; too many plants we've brought over from Asia have turned into unmitigated disasters for our native vegetation. We're planting Chinese elms because a Chinese disease wiped out our native elms... that's not the way to go about this (although we're doing it with chestnuts and ashes now, too; can't wait to see what new diseases of other native tree species will appear in the next decade because of this). There ARE disease-resistant cultivars of Ulmus americana and Ulmus alata, and we should be using those when and where we can.

A much better tree would be the Eastern Hophornbeam, Ostrya virginiana. Nice, smaller tree (won't get more than about 30 feet tall), fairly resistant to mechanical damage, few shallow roots, tolerates high pollution levels (better than any known elm), and has gorgeous fall color (which we'll lose by replacing maples with elms). Not planted enough, and it's actually native to the area. I wish cities did a better job of finding appropriate native species for urban plantings, because they're out there.

/soapbox

[GvilleSC]

I'm sure it's not City officials picking out trees at the local nurseries. Landscape architects should be in charge and should have knowledge about what to plant. But, if it's a great concern to you, write the City's leaders and let them know your thoughts. This won't be the last time trees are planted downtown. If your point it valid, you should have an impact on future decisions of landscaping... ?

[silverseale]

So will we have to deal with baby trees? I'm not understanding this...

[gs3]

Temp signs the city is using in areas where tree replacement is going on:

[GvilleSC]

I like the sign!

[gs3]

I like the sign!