The west side of the 700 block of Elm Street on Jan. 3, 2023.
To the casual observer, the 700 block of Elm Street in Albany may look a little bare these days. A couple of good-size elm trees are no longer there.
It’s the same old story, common with Albany street trees: Either their limbs threaten power lines or structures, or their roots interfere with the pavement, or in this case the sidewalk.
When I asked about why these trees were taken down, Jay Sharpe, natural resource specialist in the Albany Department of Parks and Recreation, told me by email:
“The two Chinese elm trees … were removed by our Streets Department so they can fix the sidewalk. Most of the time, Streets needs to remove trees that are damaging sidewalks to complete the repair because large structural roots have grown into the area where the new sidewalk needs to be installed.
“We will be replacing these elms with City Sprite zelkova trees. They are a good replacement for elm because they have a similar look but don’t grow as large and damage infrastructure.”
The trouble with this, if you can call it trouble, is that replacement trees take a long while before they resemble the mature trees they replace, in size anyway, and in summertime shade.
The important thing is that new trees are planted. Then all we need is patience, waiting for them to grow.
That’s the case, for example, on one block of N.E. Linn Avenue east of Chicago Street.
Linn Avenue is on my bike route through old Albany’s east end. And on a recent ride, I noticed that 15 new trees had been planted there by the developers of The Banks apartments.
Newly planted trees without leaves look pretty much the same. But as luck would have it, these still had their labels on them when I saw them last month.
The labels identified them as acer rubrum “Bowhall,” red maples that are “good for street tree use.”
These maples grow 40 feet tall, and in the fall their leaves turn orange and red. People living in the apartments facing Linn will have something colorful to look at, and so will the homeowners across the street, during autumns in the years to come. (hh)
Their labels identified the new plantings on Linn Avenue when I went by there on Dec. 7, 2022.
Woodman, spare that tree
Chop down a hickory, birch, or pine
But not that slippery elm of mine
It’s the only tree me wife can’t climb
Woodman, spare that tree.
1830
Well done Centrist! When I was told my Mimosa tree roots were disturbing my septic drain field and had to come out, I cried.