Help narrowing down street tree selection
I am tasked with selecting new trees to plant at our church building and am seeking advice. See the attached picture.
We're in suburban Detroit, zone 6a.
The existing trees there are pears that are in rapidly declining health and have in recent years started splitting under ice damage. There used to be 4 of them. They will be removed before the new trees are planted.
The red X's are the proposed location for new trees. I have already had the utilities marked and there are no above ground or underground utilities.
This is along a somewhat busy suburban road. It is possible some salt spray may make it on the trees in the winter, but reviewing the site after a recent heavy snowfall it didn't look like much splashed across the sidewalk. The soil test shows the sodium is 242 ppm and chloride is 267 ppm (which they said is high). The rest of the test results are here http://homesoiltest.msu.edu/your-results/code/P9WH5K (loam, nearly neutral pH, low on potassium).
The blue box shows where there is sometimes standing water for a day or two. The rest of the site drains remarkably well.
Tree requirements:
- Deciduous.
- I can care for them the first few years, but they must be tolerant of benign neglect after that.
- No significant litter. Leaves, flower petals, and small seed pods are okay, but e.g. no oaks, sweet gums, catalpa, or sycamores.
- Won't drop messy stuff on cars parked below.
- Parking clearance for cars and the sidewalk.
- Roots typically deep enough to not cause difficulty mowing or heaving the sidewalk and parking lot.
- At least two species to avoid monoculture.
Desirable traits, if possible:
- Multiple season interest
- At least one species tolerates wet feet (though we can probably adjust the grade if absolutely necessary)
- Long lived (60+ years)
- Large mature size
Based on all this, I have narrowed it down to these four species that I'm able to acquire from a local, reputable nursery
- Ginkgo, Presidential Gold
- Hackberry
- Linden, Americana ‘Boulevard’
- Honey Locust, Skyline
I have read a lot of conflicting information from reputable sources (e.g. extension sites) about salt tolerance, surface roots, tolerance of standing water, etc, so am looking for thoughts on if any of these are a better choice than others.
Thanks!
Comments (14)
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