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Horticulturalist Joe Dwyer is part of the Sewer District's Stormwater Inspection & Maintenance (SWIM) team.

"A large shade tree can take up to 4,000 gallons of stormwater throughout a year," Dwyer says, but problems with improper tree planting can reveal themselves often just as trees are reaching their prime environmental benefits. Joe highlights the importance of proper tree maintenance to support the District's stormwater-management work.

We also discuss how trees communicate through underground fungal networks, bringing "winter interest" to our project sites, and the potential for beautifying roadsides with wildflowers.

Whether you're a casual observer of neighborhood greenery or an aspiring horticulturalist, you'll gain a deeper appreciation for the trees working silently around us.

We also want to share a handy resource from Cleveland Metroparks: a Tree Selector Tool that helps you select the best native species for your home or project, depending on your location, landscaping goals, amount of sun and shade, and other factors. The website also features a directory of local nurseries that carry native plants.

Whether you’re a homeowner, landscape architect, land steward, or arborist, these Cleveland Metroparks resources can help you plan and obtain the right trees for your planting project.

For further reading:

Silverstein, Shel. The Giving Tree. Harper & Row, 1964.

Simard, Suzanne. Finding the Mother Tree. Knopf, 2021.

Wikipedia. "Crown Shyness." Last modified October 13, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_shyness