
Planting Climate-Adaptable Trees on Campus this Fall! 🌳
Fall is an ideal time for planting, and our FM Landcare team is taking full advantage of the season to enhance our campus with 105 new trees! These trees are a diverse mix of species, including some that are borderline hardy, some that have never been planted on campus before, and others that are reliable or native to our region. This supports our efforts to plant climate-adaptable trees that diversify our canopy and build higher resilience from pests.
Varieties Being Planted This Fall:
- Borderline hardy: Shingle Oak, Bald Cypress, Tulip Tree, Planetree
- New to campus: Sweetgum, Persian Ironwood
- Reliable or native: Blue Beech, Hawthorn, Yellowwood, Ginkgo, Redbud
All 105 the trees being planted come from the gravel bed nursery that our Landcare team built and maintains in St. Paul. In the spring, the team receives bare-root trees, which are small and easy to plant. Over the summer, the trees develop a robust root system in the gravel bed, making them easy to replant in the fall. This method not only makes planting safer and easier for the team (and light enough that even a child could help plant them!) but also allows the trees to acclimate to their new environment more quickly.
Photo above shows the leaves of an Ironwood tree. This variety of tree being planted this fall is new to the UMN TC campus.
If you're curious about planting climate-adaptable trees in your own yard, look no further than this cool story map publication from the UMN Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. It includes many of the tree varieties listed above and is a great resource for those looking to contribute to climate resilience in Minnesota.