Trees Please! Celebrate Virginia Native Trees!

 

We need the trees of Virginia.

Trees are an important part of our diverse ecosystems.

Trees provide essential habitats for pollinators - especially butterflies and moths, birds and mammals.

Leaves, flowers and fruits, nuts or acorns provide seasonable nutrition. Leaf litter, fallen branches and/or decaying wood provide other habitats while enriching the soil with nutrients.

Trees stabilize the soil and absorb thousands of gallons of water, preventing rapid run-off during storms.

The shade of trees reduces the cost of air conditioning in summer, and helps screen the wind and cold of winter.

Trees play a significant role in maintaining the balance in the water cycle, the nitrogen cycle and the carbon cycle.

Trees improve air quality.

Virginia’s native trees are diverse, colorful, beautiful, majestic, sheltering, calming, and so much more. Trees improve the quality of our lives.

We need trees. All we need to do is plant and care for them. They will do the rest.

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What is the true value of a tree?

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It may be priceless in the beauty it brings to a street, city park or backyard, but can an actual dollar amount be placed on a tree’s worth?

The USDA Forest Service scientists found that for every $1 spent on planting and caring for a tree, the benefits that it provides are two to five times that investment.

Check out the free on-line tools on i-Tree that quantify ecosystem services and benefit values of community trees and forests at multiple scales.

Choosing the Right Place for Your virginia native Tree

Planting a tree suitable to your region and natural conditions is very important. Where you place your tree also determines its success!

Native trees have different shapes, sizes, rates of growth, requirements for sun, shade, soil and moisture, etc. These characteristics help guide which native trees are suited to your property and where to place the tree.

GROWTH RATE AND SPACE

How long will it take for your tree to reach its full height? Slow growing species typically live longer than fast growing species.

LOOK UP AND DOWN

Consider where you wish to place your tree. Are there overhead or buried utility lines? Is the site surrounded by streets, sidewalks, driveways, buildings or other trees? How tall and how wide will your tree be when mature? Envision it at full size when deciding where to plant.

Avoid nearby obstacles:

Houses - plant trees at least 15 feet away from buildings

Sidewalks - the roots of maples, willows and Sweetgum are more likely to damage sidewalks

Underground utilities - If planting a tree with a large root ball, call before you dig - dial 811 or visit va811.com - formerly "Miss Utility." Avoid damaging utility lines when you have to dig deep. Be aware that there may be other underground pipes that they don't mark, such as sewer and water lines.

Never plant trees or shrubs within 5 feet of an underground power line.

Overhead wires -

Dominion's recommendations

  • 0-15 feet from the line: No trees. Shrubs under 20 feet tall at maximum growth.

  • 15-30 feet: Small trees allowed (20-45 feet, with the taller trees in this range recommended as you progress away from the power lines)

  • 30+ feet:  Large trees allowed.

Platanus occidentalis, Sycamore. By Connie Morrison.

Platanus occidentalis, Sycamore. By Connie Morrison.

SUN EXPOSURE

Some trees need several hours of shade every day. Others need full sun all day long. What kind of sun exposure will the place you have chosen to plant your tree provide?

WIND EXPOSURE

In a woodland setting, trees are protected from the force and moisture reducing effects of wind by the trees around them. When placing a tree on a lawn, in a park or other open site, look for features that can shelter the newly planted tree from wind or look for a more sheltered location.

SOIL & MOISTURE REQUIREMENTS

Some trees prefer moist soil, others dry soil and some can tolerate either kind. Local geology and prior land disturbance affects soil fertility and air and moisture-holding capacity. You should have your soil tested every three years and before adding anything to it. To get a soil test kit, contact your county or city Virginia Cooperative Extension Office (www.ext.vt.edu/offices), or your local Soil and Water Conservation District.

VIEWS

Particularly on corner lots, avoid plantings that would obscure traffic signs and line of sight for motor vehicles, bicyclists and pedestrians.

ENERGY SAVINGS

Plant deciduous trees on the southeast side of the house for morning shade and on the southwest and west for afternoon shade. When deciduous trees lose their leaves in the fall, they let sunlight in to warm the house. Plant conifers on the north side to block winter winds.

FRUIT/SEED PODS

Some trees drop fruit, seed pods or other materials and create maintenance issues if located over streets, sidewalks and driveways.

Diospyros virginiana, Common Persimmon. By Dot Field.

Diospyros virginiana, Common Persimmon. By Dot Field.

LAWNS

Young trees are often planted on lawns, but turf grass roots hamper tree root growth. Grass roots are dense and occupy the same space where tree roots need to grow, outcompeting trees for water and nutrients and impeding tree growth. Removing turf around the new tree and replacing it with mulch reduces this effect.

Sassafras-albidum, Sassafras. By Ruth Meyers.

Sassafras-albidum, Sassafras. By Ruth Meyers.

Tips courtesy of the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards.

Cercis canadensis, Redbud. By Phillip Merrit.

Cercis canadensis, Redbud. By Phillip Merrit.

Have you seen a tree deeply pruned - sometimes the crown half removed! - because it was too tall to have been planted under utility lines?

Have you seen a tree deeply pruned - sometimes the crown half removed! - because it was too tall to have been planted under utility lines?

Native tree selection

Virginia’s regional native plant guides highlight the characteristics and needs of many of our native tree species. You can also cross-reference between the regional tree lists with the following resources:

TREE PLANTING & CARE

Also, check-out this great webpage on tree planting from our Mid-Atlantic partner, Blue Water Baltimore.

Visit the National Arbor Foundation website for more information about Arbor Day and other programs!

Be inspired by these stories of special trees embedded in our communities and rooted in our history. Remarkable Trees of Virginia, by Jeffrey Lynn Kirwan and Nancy Ross Hugo.Virginia Big Tree Program and Remarkable Trees Program

Be inspired by these stories of special trees embedded in our communities and rooted in our history. Remarkable Trees of Virginia, by Jeffrey Lynn Kirwan and Nancy Ross Hugo.

Virginia Big Tree Program and Remarkable Trees Program

Make one an oak if you can!

Quercus alba, White Oak.

Quercus alba, White Oak.

Restoring oaks to suburbia goes a long way to improving wildlife habitat and biodiversity.

In addition to all they supply for mammals and birds, no other plant genus supports more species of moths and butterflies than Quercus. The mighty White Oak - Quercus Alba - supports over 520 species! These moth and butterfly caterpillars are essential food to raise a nest of hungry chicks. The Chickadee needs to collect over 9,000 caterpillars to feed its chicks before they fledge.

Most oaks fall into two taxonomic groups: the white oak group and the red oak group. They all provide lovely fall color. Although all oaks will do well in rich, well-drained soil, swamp white oaks will tolerate moist soils, while scarlet oaks and white oaks will tolerate thin, dry soils.

Oaks grow to be large trees with spreading limbs when grown in full sun. A mature White Oak can spread wider than it is tall!

DEER

Deer can pose problems for young trees. If you live in an area with a deer population, they could pose a special problem because they browse on young trees' tender branches and stems, eat their leaves and male deer damage young trees' bark by rubbing against it to remove the velvet from their antlers. You will want to protect your young tree until it is of a size that deer activity will not impede the survival of your newly planted tree.

LEARN MORE

Preserving Mature native Tree canopy

It is important to plant new trees, and to preserve the ones that we already have.

A mature tree has incomparably greater benefits than a sapling - far more stormwater capture, carbon sequestration, cooling, etc.

But Virginia Trees, especially in urban and some suburban areas, are under constant threat from numerous directions, including strangling vines, development, pollution and lack of basic tree care.

PROTECT TREES AGAINST ACCIDENTAL DAMAGE

  • Don’t let mulch touch the base of your tree. Building up mulch against a tree causes the bark to rot.

  • Avoid soil compaction, such as from from cars or heavy machinery

  • Don’t use a string trimmer or a lawn mower near a tree. Protect it with a ring of native groundcover plants or a thin layer of organic mulch. As much as possible, leave fallen leaves under the tree to protect the roots and provide homes for fireflies.

​DON’T CUT DOWN HEALTHY TREES

  • Worried that your tree might fall on your house? Consult a certified independent arborist (one who does not sell tree services, known as a Consulting Arborist in the industry) who can assess the risk. An every two year visit is wise.

  • Tired of raking? Just don’t rake! The fallen leaves belong under the tree, where they provide habitat for fireflies and where they nourish the soil as they break down.

  • Doing construction? Future owners will be grateful for the shade provided by mature trees.

RESCUE TREES ON YOUR PROPERTY FROM INVASIVE VINES

Plant Virginia Natives is a collaborative initiative engaging organizations, across Virginia’s coastal zone, piedmont and mountain regions, in state-wide and regional marketing strategies to increase the use and availability of native plants.

Questions, suggestions or comments about the initiative and this website?  
Please contact Virginia Witmer, Plant Virginia Natives Initiative Coordinator, at virginia.witmer@deq.virginia.gov .