How does the width of the planting strip affect the potential choice of street trees?
A tree that matures with a trunk too large for a narrow planting strip is much more likely to damage sidewalks, curbs, and/or streets, requiring costly repairs. Such damage to the trunk also ultimately leads to the death of the tree—and costly tree removal. So we fit the tree to the space: a tree of small stature in a narrow planting strip, a larger tree in a larger planting strip. An important factor is the variety of tree: some trees are known for having aggressive surface roots that are damaging to streets and sidewalks, especially when constricted in a narrow planting strip. For instance, experience has shown that almost all flowering cherries have large aggressive root systems that can buckle a sidewalk even at a young age; note that we do not carry ornamental flowering cherries in our nursery inventory for that reason. Soil conditions are yet another factor. Westside Olympia is built on a soil type called Alderwood that typically has an impenetrable hardpan just a few feet belo
