Why I Love Trees and You Should Too!

With any new project I sit down to design, I always start by thinking about the trees. Trees offer numerous benefits in a landscape and to our homes. In a residential setting, they establish the foundational structure of the design around which the rest of the elements fall into place. 

In our immediate surroundings, trees provide visual appeal and create a sense of place. They can provide cooling shade, beautiful seasonal flowers, and habitat for the local wildlife. Beyond property lines, they create green spaces in our communities and become part of the ecosystem. From their canopies to their roots, they quietly engage in numerous ecological processes that purify air, water, and soil. 

So, as far as I’m concerned, we should all appreciate trees and strive to plant more of them!

Why Choose Native

As a landscape designer, I always opt for native plants first, and trees are no exception. Native trees are the sustainable choice. This is better for the homeowner and better for the environment. 

Consider that anything you plant becomes not only part of your landscape but part of the wider ecosystem. Native trees (and native plants in general) are ideally suited for growing in their local ecosystem. They have adapted over generations to thrive in the specific climate, soil, and environmental conditions of the region. 

As such, native trees require less maintenance and resources than non-natives. They are more resistant to pests and diseases and can better withstand both our extreme summer and winter conditions. This means lower water consumption, less need for spraying chemicals, and fewer plants lost at the end of a scorching summer.

In the bigger picture, natives are a key component of biodiversity and ecosystem health. Native plants have co-adapted with local wildlife to provide essential habitat and food sources. They attract diverse native species that together play a vital role in the delicate balance of ecosystem processes such as pollination, nutrient cycling, and pest control. Increased biodiversity makes these processes more resilient to challenging conditions.

Heat, Air, Water, and Soil

One of the most challenging conditions we face here in North Texas is the summer heat and drought. We have already established that native trees are best suited to these conditions. Additionally, growing trees near your home and in our urban and suburban cities can help bring the thermostat down! 

Trees lower the surrounding air and surface temperatures via their shade and the release of water vapor through a process called evapotranspiration. This makes the immediate environment more comfortable during hot summer days and reduces the energy consumption needed to cool buildings. Ultimately, that means lower electricity bills and less strain on an overwhelmed grid.

The effect can be cumulative for a community. The urban heat island effect is a phenomenon where cities experience higher temperatures than surrounding rural areas. This is due to several factors, but a big part of it is the reduction of green spaces and trees replaced by parking lots and asphalt roofs. Growing more trees will help cool both your home and your neighborhood. On a warming planet, trees help save lives. 

Another aspect of modern living that trees can help with is air and water pollution. Trees improve air quality by absorbing carbon dioxide and other pollutants and by releasing oxygen into the atmosphere. 

The canopies and root systems of trees mitigate water pollution by decreasing stormwater runoff and the potential for flooding. Beneath the surface, roots act as a natural filter, removing pollutants and trapping sediments as water percolates through the soil. The captured water recharges groundwater supplies and helps maintain healthy soil moisture levels. 

Roots effectively stabilize the soil, minimizing erosion. This also reduces the risk of rainwater runoff and sedimentation polluting our waterways. 

The intricate network of tree roots also provides a micro-habitat where biodiverse organisms can thrive. Together with these microorganisms, tree roots facilitate nutrient cycling, a process of recycling essential nutrients, like a living underground composter! This enriches soils and supports the overall health and productivity of the ecosystem. 

The Transcendent Value of Trees

Beyond all these amazing benefits to our environment, communities, and homes, trees also enhance the natural beauty of our landscapes. They paint a canvas with different colors, shapes, and textures, changing from season to season. The wildlife they feed, shelter, and protect breathe life into a garden with vibrant activity from birds to butterflies and a host of beneficial insects.

Trees can create seasonal interest, make focal points, frame a view, or create privacy or screening from unwanted sights and sounds. They establish structure in a landscape, enhancing the sense of harmonious balance the space exudes.

And this harmony goes beyond our five senses. Trees foster inner tranquility and just make us feel better. Countless studies have shown how trees and green spaces can “help reduce individuals’ stress, improve mental health, strengthen immune systems, reduce crime, and improve student academic performance.”¹

Trees also do something less quantifiable through the wisdom they share. Observing a tree grow and change throughout the seasons, shedding its leaves in the autumn and sprouting with new vitality come spring, aligns us with the cycles of nature. We can learn about letting go, embracing change, and the promise of renewal and new beginnings. 

I think back fondly to the trees I grew up with. A tree was the first plant I transplanted. I watched it grow over the years, and once it was mature, I climbed it for a sense of freedom and perspective, and because it was fun! My feelings of wonder grew when I moved to Estes Park, Colorado and lived among the towering, majestic trees of the Rocky Mountains. I felt a profound loss when one of the trees blew down during a storm. And I happily trekked up a mountain to marvel at the living beauty of a tree. Every new landscape or wild space I see, I look for the trees, and feel awed in their presence. They make me feel grounded and connected to something bigger than myself. 

A Lesson on Connection and Unity

As it happens, communities with more trees create a “greater sense of connectedness, belonging, and trust.”¹ Trees remind us about our interconnectedness and teach us about coming together for the greater good. 

This is beautifully demonstrated in the “Council of Pecans” chapter from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book Braiding Sweetgrass. She writes about mast fruiting, a phenomenon where a population of trees over a wide area synchronously produces a large crop of fruits or seeds.

The trees act not as individuals, but somehow as a collective. Exactly how they do this, we don’t yet know. But what we see is the power of unity: What happens to one happens to us all. We can starve together or feast together. All flourishing is mutual…The pecan trees and their kin show a capacity for concerted action, for unity of purpose that transcends the individual. They ensure somehow that all stand together and thus survive.²

Trees are talking to one another. We don’t yet understand the mechanism, whether by pollen or pheromones to warn about insect attacks; or by reaching out under the earth through the mycorrhizal network or soil to share nutrients and chemical signals, weaving “a web of reciprocity…through unity, survival.”² In any case, we would be wise to listen to the subtle lessons they impart.

Let’s Plant Trees

How can we reciprocate these gifts? We can plant new seeds and new trees. 

Not yet ready to get out your transplanting shovel or just don’t have the space? There are many other ways you can support tree planting. 

Donate to reforestation programs via Tree Sister, Eden Reforestraion Projects, or the National Forest Foundation which is aiming to plant 50 million trees. Help Arbor Day plant 500 million trees or The Nature Conservancy reach 1 billion.

Donate or gift a tree via OneTreePlanted or Treedom or chip into a tree planting project.

When you shop, choose companies that do some good. Find a brand that plants a tree (or 10!) when you make a purchase.

Switch your web browser to plant trees just by searching the internet. Install the tree app to help plant trees for free while using your device.

Donate to Texas Trees Foundation or volunteer to help plant trees in your community. Look for resources and opportunities in your city for tree planting and citizen forestry programs such as those available through the city of Dallas.

If you need more motivation to plant a tree, see if you live in one of the Texas towns incentivizing tree planting!

Choosing the Right Tree

If you are ready to add some trees to your landscape, the next step is picking the right native tree for your space. To help you choose, I’ve written a Guide to Trees for North Texas. Subscribe to the blog below to get notified of upcoming posts in this series. 

Regardless of what you choose, native trees are an investment for yourself, for our shared environment, and for future generations to enjoy all the life-sustaining gifts they offer.

1. https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/02/the-little-known-physical-and-mental-health-benefits-of-urban-trees/
2. https://orionmagazine.org/article/pecan-trees-indigenous-land-rights/