Urban Forestry: Old Trees in Residential Neighborhoods, Part 1

Urban forestry often focuses on planting and management of young trees.  Very large, old trees are rare in urban settings outside of parks and cemeteries. Not so in the Bluegrass, where huge, ancient trees are abundant throughout our cities and towns.  In the Bluegrass, cities have grown up on land that used to be woodland […]

picture of Shumard oak

A most puzzling tree

Shumard oak, Quercus shumardii, is a puzzling tree. It is not abundant anywhere in its large range. It is easily confused with other red oaks, and it probably hybridizes with them. In the Bluegrass, Shumard oak is common, but highly variable. Here is a slide show of Shumard oaks in the Bluegrass.

Picture of a white ash behind a building

A tree in a tight place

Trees with limited root systems often fair poorly, unless they are very deeply rooted. Here is a slide show of a white ash with a very limited root system that is doing well because it is deeply rooted in the limestone rock.

Picture of a white ash behind a building

One tough landmark tree

In 1989, Bob Ramsey opened a little restaurant on the corner of E. High Street and Woodland Avenue in Lexington, Kentucky.  The restaurant, with its excellent comfort food, soon became a landmark in Lexington.  A patio behind the restaurant provided outdoor dining shaded by a large white ash tree that is as much a landmark […]

Our most successful tree?

Reforest the Bluegrass is one of the oldest and most successful community forestry programs in the US. Every year in April, thousands of volunteers turn out to plant trees from the Kentucky Division of Forestry nursery. The purpose of the program is to establish forests along riparian zones to protect water quality. There is no […]