Two views of a median in a Coral Springs collector road
lined up with live oaks (Quercus virginiana).
Tree of the Year and Tree
of Merit Pave Way for 2e
Resilient Canopy
The Resilient Canopy explores the chal-
lenges and successes of our members
and colleagues in addressing climate
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real-world experiences with species selec-
tion, ambitious biodiversity targets, green
infrastructure, site remediation, and more.
The Tree of the Year and Tree of Merit
approach is being retired, but we continue
to celebrate those highlighted trees, and
you can revisit them anytime via our digital
magazine platform (click on folder icon
to see past issues). We thank the many
contributors to Tree of Merit and Tree
of the Year over the years and hope that
many of you will continue to share your
observations via The Resilient Canopy.
But the last couple of years, the rainfall + watering
regime hasn't proved sufficient for the newly planted
live oaks to establish, even with the addition of irri-
gation bubblers. The young live oaks are stressed and
take much longer to establish, according to Alzate.
The mature live oaks in Coral Springs are faring well,
but are the struggling young trees a bellwether for
future problems for mature trees? In the mean-
time, Alzate is experimenting with other kinds of
plant material in order to diversify beyond what
she says are the five most overused species in the
city: live oaks, sabal palms (Sabal palmetto), crape
myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica), mahogany (Swietenia
mahagoni), and gumbo-limbo (Bursera simaruba).
In short, Alzate says that live oaks are overplanted
in Coral Springs and vulnerable to pest and disease
outbreaks; sabal palms and crape myrtle don't
deliver meaningful canopy benefits; mahogany
tends to have structural problems such as codom-
inant leaders and included bark, thus making it
vulnerable to breakage; and gumbo-limbo is a great,
strong tree with beautiful bark, but it suffers from
the same problem as live oak—it's overused.
Alzate has been trying out some new species,
with decidedly mixed results.
Bahama strongbark
(Bourreria succulenta) is a large shrub or small >>
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