I'm not sure they are fully dead, but I think much of the folliage on some is either severely delayed or is just now starting to come out.
 
xania13 said:
Just came back from a walk in the area and 3/4 of the trees are completely dead from Church to Yonge... i am really hoping they are being replaced. Does one know who to contact to ensure that it gets done. How embarrassing!
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Dead:eek: unless the bark is peeling off and branches are cracking and falling, i would just say they are dormant from shock/weather...i wouldnt write them off yet.
 
xania13 said:
Just came back from a walk in the area and 3/4 of the trees are completely dead from Church to Yonge... i am really hoping they are being replaced. Does one know who to contact to ensure that it gets done. How embarrassing!
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I agree with others that it is too early to write off the trees and it is normal practice that when you get a new tree the supplier guarantees it for one year. I bet the BIA, who paid the extra cost for better/bigger trees, will be onto it if any are actually dead.
 
I dunno, there's a lot of trees that are looking pretty bad. Between Church & Yonge on the north side there are about 7 or 8 trees that have no buds, some have a few leaves - and I mean a few, like 3 or 4 that I can see - and others have leaves in sections of the tree, but the rest of the tree is bare with dead looking branches. On a few trees with no buds or leaves I broke off low hanging, small pieces of branches and I don't see any sign of green inside the branches at all. On the south side it's pretty much the same story, only there are about 9 trees that don't look good at all. The balance of trees between this stretch pretty much have a full canape of leaves. Mostly.

All of the granite pavers have now been laid at the corner of Church & Bloor (the fenced in area at 120 Bloor East). Only the pavers with the hole in it for the built in ground lights are yet to be laid then the job there should be complete.
 
Given the extremely poor record Toronto has with keeping street trees alive, we should just buy fake plastic trees (like the Radiohead song) like they have in malls and "plant" them. I mean, who cares if it's fake? The presence of a couple thousand street trees is not going to offset global climate change or provide oxygen for the city's 2.7 million people.
 
I say we keep up the effort. Today, many of our streets are lined with trees that are maturing, particularly in the west end on streets like Queen, Dundas, and College. Of course, natural trees are always more interesting than artificial since they change year round and grow, plus they contrast with the extensively man-made cityscape. They can absorb water and CO2, and provide a breeze for pedestrians as well as flush out motor vehicle exhaust. Thus, major streets with real trees tend to look better than streets with nothing but pavement and buildings like Yonge between College and Bloor.
 
I was shocked to see that the trees on the Yonge street sidewalk in front of College Park have all been cut off at the base.
 
Urban Shocker said:
Those watering bags, which look like garbage bags dumped at the foot of the trees, rather undercut Bloor Street's pretensions to elegance.
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Oh, sometimes one must put aesthetics aside; the watering bags serve an essential purpose - ensuring the newly planted trees get regular watering. True they do not look great but if they were not being used (finally in Toronto) the trees would probably die and THAT hardly looks great either. (Read the hysteria above about possibly dead trees!) Usually they only use the bags in Year 1 so by next year ..... Patience, US.
 
I recall however that the new trees for the St.George Street re-do were in pretty bad shape at the time they were planted. There were similar comments about Toronto's bad record for keeping trees alive. 10 years later if you go down St. George most of the trees are doing quite well and if we were to come back in another 20 years there would be an impressive canopy.

One question I have is is there enough light on Bloor for the trees to thrive? It's virtually in perpetual shade from the building canyon. By contrast the trees along St. George get a healthy dose of southern exposure because the street is oriented north-south.
 
Okay, my attempt at satire probably was a little too nuanced.

I am all for street trees, but we have to ask ourselves the bigger question: why are Toronto's street trees dying? This isn't a problem in other cities with similar climates and similar environmental obstacles.

Right now, our approach to tree planting is very reactive and "end of the pipe" thinking: the trees keep on dying, so we keep on spending $1,000 plus replanting them every single year. Then they keep on dying.

I'm not a botanist (I'm not even sure if that's the right discipline), but we might want to consider if the variety of tree we plant, the amount of salt we dump on the sidewalk in wintertime, and how committed we are to maintaining them once they're planted (eg. watering them), etc. is something we're willing to change. If we're not, then I'm not actually above installing plastic trees, even if it makes us the butt of jokes.
 
Bloor looking west from Yonge. Starting to look a little lush.

bloorlush.jpg
 
Hipster Duck said:
Okay, my attempt at satire probably was a little too nuanced.

I am all for street trees, but we have to ask ourselves the bigger question: why are Toronto's street trees dying? This isn't a problem in other cities with similar climates and similar environmental obstacles.

Right now, our approach to tree planting is very reactive and "end of the pipe" thinking: the trees keep on dying, so we keep on spending $1,000 plus replanting them every single year. Then they keep on dying.

I'm not a botanist (I'm not even sure if that's the right discipline), but we might want to consider if the variety of tree we plant, the amount of salt we dump on the sidewalk in wintertime, and how committed we are to maintaining them once they're planted (eg. watering them), etc. is something we're willing to change. If we're not, then I'm not actually above installing plastic trees, even if it makes us the butt of jokes.
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Arborist.

If Toronto adapts the underground system for its plantings from now on, we should see a significant improvement in the health of our street trees. Sunken wells with grates that prevent people from trampling down the surrounding soil help drastically too. This spring has been tough for trees, but I'm confident we'll see inspiring results on Bloor Street.
 
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