As lovely as a tree

They’re green. They’re tall. And they’re leafy.Trees may be all of those things, but they are also so much more. The wooden pillars give us the air we breath, material to build with and something beautiful to look at.

Lynette Kirton is the designated tree expert at Vandermeer Nursery in Ajax and she likes to talk about trees.

While many people would list autumn as their favourite season for trees because of the gold, amber and fiery colour of the leaves, Ms. Kirton prefers the greenery of summer.
“I love them in the summer and I love seeing all the variations in green,” she said.

But, trees aren’t just a pretty face. They provide practical benefits for a property owner in terms of affecting the temperature of a home.

“They give structure to your garden but the other thing is they can be used to keep your house cool if you have a large shade tree,” Ms. Kirton said.

If leafy (deciduous) trees are planted on the sunny side of a house, in the summer they will provide shade from the hot summer and in the winter they will shed their leaves to let the warming sunshine through. If pine or fir trees are planted on the north side of a house, they can help provide a windbreak that can keep the home warmer when it is cool outside. Both these benefits can add up to energy savings on a heating/cooling bill.

They can also help make a city livable by taking in the carbon dioxide in the air and releasing oxygen.

The City of Oshawa’s Rob Fennell knows the environmental benefits of trees.

“Trees filter the air and they help to mediate pollution,” he said. “There is more evidence that having more tree cover actually helps to sequester (remove and store) carbon, which helps with climate change.”

Mr. Fennell is Oshawa’s supervisor of forestry. He said the municipality knows the benefits of trees and that’s why it plants more than 1,000 a year in addition to the 28,000 trees it already has lining city streets (there are thousands more in greenbelts and parks).

“They improve the streetscape and the appearance of an area,” he said. “They help with property values too.”

After working with trees for nearly 20 years, Mr. Fennell has his own reasons for why he likes to have them around.

“They provide wildlife habitat,” he said. “And if you picture an area that doesn’t have trees and is all buildings and you see an area with trees, it just sort of softens the whole look and ties you in with nature.”

There are many things to keep in mind before deciding what tree to buy. Ms. Kirton advises people think about what they want the tree for and then think about things such as does it flower or produce fruit? Is it prone to diseases? And how big will it get?

“You have to get something that’s in keeping with the size of the yard,” she said, not just right now, but in 50 years time.

“Don’t always choose a tree because you like it, choose because of the location,” Ms. Kirton said. “You do have to put the right tree in the right place.”

And she doesn’t recommend anyone buy a tree as a gift — get a gift certificate instead.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” she said. “Buying a tree is a very personal thing.”