Arbor Day Giveaway 2019

Thank you to every­one who came to the Arbor Day give­away Fri­day, April 26! Spe­cial thanks to spon­sors, the Pitts­burgh Shade Tree Commission.

We have a great video from Com­mu­ni­ty Edu­ca­tion Coor­di­na­tor Joe Stavish to teach you about how to plant a tree.

Here’s some infor­ma­tion on each of the species we hand­ed out today!

Black birch (Betula lenta)

These trees like full sun or par­tial shade and have a medi­um growth rate. They will grow to 40–50 tall. Black birch have a beau­ti­ful round­ed shape with yel­low and gold fall col­or. These trees like moist, well-drained soil. It’s named for its mature black bark that resem­bles that of black cher­ry and is also known as cher­ry birch or sweet birch. Its twigs, if bro­ken, have the strong sent of wintergreen).

Blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica)

Black­gums like full sun but will tol­er­ate some shade. They have a slow-medi­um growth rate and will grow to 40–60 feet tall. They like acidic, moist, and well-drained soil. Black­gums have an oval, round­ed shape. In the fall, they have beau­ti­ful fall col­ors of orange, many shades of yel­low, bright red, pur­ple, or scar­let. The flower pro­duces a nec­tar attrac­tive to bees, and is known to make a rich fla­vor­ful honey.

Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana)

These trees can grow in full sun to shade or semi-shade. They are an ever­green and will grow to 25–35 feet tall with a 10–15 foot spread. They have a con­i­cal shape. They’re a love­ly medi­um-sized native ever­green tree and are deer resistant.

Eastern redbud (cercis canadensis)

Red­buds are a beau­ti­ful flow­er­ing tree with pink laven­der blooms in spring and heart shaped leaves that turn yel­low in the fall. They enjoy par­tial sun to shade and will grow to 15–20 feet with a 15–20 foot spread. They have an oval or round­ed shape and are mul­ti-stemmed. Red­buds like fer­tile soils with reg­u­lar and con­sis­tent mois­ture. These trees are good for pol­li­na­tors and butterflies.

Pawpaw (Asimina triloba)

Paw­paw trees will grow to be around 25 feet tall. Their edi­ble fruit taste like a com­bi­na­tion of man­go and pineap­ple. They will tol­er­ate sun to shade and like rich, moist, slight­ly acidic soils. Paw­paws pro­vide habi­tat for the zebra swal­low­tail but­ter­fly, whose only lar­val plant is the paw­paw tree. Please note, you do need two paw­paw trees near each oth­er to pro­duce fruit.