Sunnyside Street Tree Team (S2T2)

Welcome.

Our mission is to create a more diverse, healthy, well-maintained urban canopy in all parts of our Sunnyside neighborhood. We partner with the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association (SNA), Friends of Trees (FOT), and Urban Forestry (Portland Parks and Recreation).  Read our Inventory/Brochure for more information.

Our Monthly Meetings have been suspended…Email us with any questions or concerns:  [email protected]

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Winter Pruning Workshop  

Saturday 2/13/16 8:30am-Noon

meet at Aletheia Bible Fellowship (4511 SE Main)

Register at Portland Parks/Urban Forestry

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Tree care after a storm…

(Oregon Department of Forestry & Arbor Day Foundation):

http://www.oregon.gov/odf/urban_forests/docs/other_publications/canthesetreesbesaved.pdf
http://www.oregon.gov/odf/urban_forests/docs/other_publications/treefirstaid.pdf
http://www.arborday.org/media/stormrecovery/

Tree Care before a storm…

(Friends of Trees):

http://www.oregonlive.com/hg/index.ssf/2015/08/tree_care_before_after_a_winds.html
 http://www.oregonlive.com/hg/index.ssf/2014/02/trees_need_care_after_storms_w.html

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Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) Inventory/Information Project

In 2014 the Sunnyside Street Tree Team inventoried the neighborhood for the invasive Tree Of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima), and produced a map– Sunnyside_TOH_Map. This nuisance tree grows fast, spreads prolifically, crowds out native and garden plants and damages foundations, sidewalks and sewers.  Dig out this quick grower while young, as removal of mature trees is best done by an arborist to avoid aggressive re-sprouting. Between June and September 2014, the tree team walked the Sunnyside neighborhood and identifying trees and leaving information for residents or businesses (where tree is visible from the sidewalk).  For more information, see the July 2014 neighborhood newsletter article, and Tree-of-heaven handoutEmail us if you have questions or would like to volunteer.

TOH

Here‘s an interesting article on efforts by Vancouver, BC Urban Forestry Commission to remove Tree of Heaven.

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Which tree should I plant?

 If you would like some guidance on what to plant here in Sunnyside, our team has created a series of lists based on what trees would be a good match to our current neighborhood inventory.  We strive to add trees that will balance out the range and diversity of species to create a healthier canopy.Our guides are in .pdf form. They are grouped according to the width of your planting strip – the distance between your sidewalk and curb.  The other factor is whether you have high voltage power lines over your planting strip.  

Planting Strip 2.5-3 ft wide

Planting Strip 3-3.5 feet wide

Planting strip 4-5.5 feet wide no wires  /  Planting Strip 4-5.5 ft wide with wires

Planting strip 6-8 ft wide no wires  /  Planting Strip 6-8 ft wide with wires

Planting strip 8.5 ft. or more no wires  /  Planting strip 8.5 ft or more with wires

Good places to see a variety of mature trees:

Hoyt Arboretum (SW above Washington Park) and Ainsworth Linear Arboretum (NE near Killingsworth Street)

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FALL COLORS!

Gregg Everhart of our S2T2 team has created two interactive maps that highlight trees with strong fall color characteristics.  Click on the links below to see the Google Maps based tours:

Sunnyside Fall Color Street Tree Tour
Richmond Plus Fall Color Street Tree Tour

For those who prefer this information in table format there are two pdf files available:
Sunnyside fall color tour list with locations
Sunnyside trees with fall color by common name

And here’s a great Oregonian Article on how to ‘read the leaves’ (fall colors).

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Winter Interest Tree Tour

Once the leaves fall it’s a great time to admire the structure of street trees, or admire evergreens during the winter months.  Also a great way to preview trees on our recommended list for new street trees.

Sunnyside Trees – Winter Interest Tour (Google Maps)

Near Sunnyside Trees – Winter Interest Tour (Google Maps)

Sunnyside winter interest tour (excel format)

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Spring Flowering Trees!

In the interest of increasing biodiversity and thus resilience to disease, the Sunnyside Street Tree Team, as part of Arbor Month celebrations in 2015, developed a Spring Flowering Tree Handout.  It includes tree walks (East and West of Cesar Chavez Blvd) of specimens within the neighborhood and associated tree information that can be enjoyed all season.   The list provides attractive alternatives to the many Rose (Cherry, Pear, Plum) family of flowering trees so prevalent on our streets today (See Cherry Walk below).

S2T2 Recommended Flowering Tree List

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Gregg Everhart leads neighbors on a Spring Flowering Tree Walk on April 25, 2015.

Spring Kwanza Cherry Tree Tour (Easter is peak bloom) 

Sunnyside Cherry Tree Walk Route, Handout, & Tree Map

CherryFlyerSunnyside Cherry Walk, April 13, 2014.

2014 Attendees to Spring Cherry Tree Walk

8 thoughts on “Sunnyside Street Tree Team (S2T2)”

  1. I was hoping to find an everygreen in the “6-8′ planting strip without wires” category…

  2. Amy: The Edith Bogue Magnolia is evergreen, although it has large oval leaves instead of needles like a Douglas fir or another native conifer. You might visit the one on tour and see if it appeals. The large white flowers and later large “fruit” are quite attractive. If you are willing to try something not on the list, you can ask Portland Parks Urban Forestry for some suggestions. I would suggest some research on Hogan Cedar (a shorter more narrow native conifer) or perhaps Olive tree. There are also a couple of Chinese evergreen oak(Quercus myrsinifolia) near me that were probably permitted and are in a more narrow strip.

    http://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/article/225268 has the current lists although I believe they are being updated soon. Good luck! Gregg

  3. Thank you street tree team for all your hard work!
    Would it be possible to encourage & support the planting of native species where at all possible in Sunnyside? This seems like such an important step in helping to restore damage to our ecosystem.

    Along this line, could you list native Serviceberry under flowering trees, under fall color, & under trees for narrow parking strips? When I first moved into my house in 1989, Friends of trees recommended native variety of service berry for my narrow parking strips. I’ve been delighted with them ever since. (They were pruned when young so that when I planted them they grew into trees, not bushes). They are covered in white flowers in spring & lovely leaves in fall. Best of all they are covered in delicious berries that My neighbors & I can eat in summer, & which attract a gorgeous flock of cedar waxwings for a couple if weeks in late spring!!

    Thank you for considering my suggestions.
    Emerald

  4. Emerald: Thanks for contacting us. I appreciate your input re Serviceberries but we had a careful process to refine the Sunnyside recommendations based on our 2012 inventory. According to urban forestry principles, we don’t meet the species diversity guidelines for family, genus nor species. Unfortunately, serviceberry are in the Rosaceae -rose- family along with cherry, plum,pear , crabapple, hawthorn. To be less susceptible to pests and diseases, we should have less than 30 percent and we have over 36. While everyone is free to choose their own trees (with PP&R approval), we really can’t recommend more serviceberry until other genera and species are in better balance. Although I do like them, they can be susceptible to both rust and galls in our area. PP&R added quite a few new species to the list this year, so we hope to do an upgrade in 2015. You would be welcome to participate.

    Gregg Everhart

    Sent from my iPad

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  5. Thanks for the reply. Your comment about service berry makes sense. But could you also please reply to my request that you encourage more native species?

  6. Emerald: I started to write a longer reply and it got lost. We currently have Cascara and Oregon Oak on the list. If you would like feedback on why we did not choose other natives, please check the Urban Forestry lists https://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/49305 of what they permit and let me know which you think are suitable. I can then tell you why we made our initial decision and can put them back on our list for future consideration.

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