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A city planner told me we should stop planting silver maples as street trees
I was at a town meeting in Springfield about our urban canopy, and a planner said, 'We're setting up the next crew for failure in 20 years.' She argued their weak wood and surface roots cause too many sidewalk and power line issues. I've always liked how fast they grow to give shade, but her point about long-term cost and risk hit different. What's your take on using fast-growing versus slow-growing species for city work?
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tyler_burns666mo ago
That planner in Springfield is right about the weak wood. My city had to remove a bunch of silver maples after a storm because they kept dropping limbs.
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wadebailey7mo ago
But those fast-growing trees give us shade now, not in some far-off future.
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nguyen.dylan7mo ago
Honestly, I'm like a fast-growing tree myself, all quick results but probably falling apart in a few years.
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