Tuscani01 said:
My mother lost a good chunk of her Boxwood hedges too after this past winter.
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I am still convinced it is the species, I have spoken with forestry and they have said the London Plans just aren't doing well in Toronto, walk anywhere around Toronto where they have planted London Plans (Widmer and Adelaide, Lake Shore and Ft. York etc).
 
TOfan696 said:
I am still convinced it is the species, I have spoken with forestry and they have said the London Plans just aren't doing well in Toronto, walk anywhere around Toronto where they have planted London Plans (Widmer and Adelaide, Lake Shore and Ft. York etc).
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Not true. Wellesley-Magill Park (off Homewood, between Sherbourne and Jarvis, North of Wellesley) is full of London Planes and almost all of them are doing very well. That said, they are not in an area that would be affected by salt treatment in the winter.
 
Roy G Biv said:
Not true. Wellesley-Magill Park (off Homewood, between Sherbourne and Jarvis, North of Wellesley) is full of London Planes and almost all of them are doing very well. That said, they are not in an area that would be affected by salt treatment in the winter.
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I specifically said street trees ... this is a park example. Speak with Forestry and they will tell u the same, they have been trying many different species of London Plans and have had little to no success with them taking root on Street (Parks may be a different story but they have a lot more soil volume in a park setting to take root)
 
Maybe they should start using sand instead of salt. It's a lot better for vehicles, sidewalks, shoes/pants and the environment.
 
Red October said:
Maybe they should start using sand instead of salt. It's a lot better for vehicles, sidewalks, shoes/pants and the environment.
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Maybe they should ditch those ideas altogether and do what Oslo did. They installed heating pads throughout all downtown sidewalks. A study determined that it was cheaper to do that than pay for snow removal, pavement repair, and hospital bills due to falls. Of course it was a Scandinavian country rather than Canada that figured that out first.
 
gabe said:
It's down right embarrassing.

Here are some pics i took a few weeks ago. I too was surprised how bad the trees looked.

Around the base of the trees was garbage and weeds, and those rusty steel grates look like they came from a scrap yard.

rs7db9.jpg
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Pretty sure those grates are supposed to be that colour - they are a nice russet patina, which is how certain types of steel oxidize over time. Design Within Reach sells planters that look similar: http://www.dwr.com/product/planterworx-arena-rectangular-planters.do?sortby=ourPicks

The tree situation is... not good - but the planter grates (I assume) are meant to look like that.
 
That's Corten steel. It's supposed to have the rusty orange patina for a dose of colour amidst all the black granite. Corten steel is a respectable material in contemporary urban design--though if used too liberally, it can result in overly harsh urban environments.
 
junctionist said:
That's Corten steel. It's supposed to have the rusty orange patina for a dose of colour amidst all the black granite. Corten steel is a respectable material in contemporary urban design--though if used too liberally, it can result in overly harsh urban environments.
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On Bloor it looks quite sharp, less so on Sherbourne where the tree grates - north of King - are larger and less well anchored to sidewalk. Looks similar to the steel panels on outside of the new Fort York Visitor Centre too.
 
I don't really buy that the problem was a harsh winter. Montreal has great street trees (Chicago too!) and they seem to do just fine.
I drove down Spadina recently from the Gardiner and half the street trees in front of those Concord buildings are dead. Looks terrible! Do they ever get replaced?
The trees along Bloor should be placed in raised planters to avoid the winter salt. That would certainly help.
Toronto needs a comprehensive street tree plan. We really lack in that department.
 
heating pads

isaidso said:
Maybe they should ditch those ideas altogether and do what Oslo did. They installed heating pads throughout all downtown sidewalks. A study determined that it was cheaper to do that than pay for snow removal, pavement repair, and hospital bills due to falls. Of course it was a Scandinavian country rather than Canada that figured that out first.
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Bang on!

The heating pads supposed to be installed during initial stages of the Bloor St. Revitalization...
 
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