Sarasota Livin'

Cooltown Studios has a little story about how important it is for street trees to have the room they need to grow. We know that I love trees ...

"Here's two things that don't add up:

1. A trees roots naturally extend as far apart as its canopy.
2. Tree roots cannot grow under sidewalks.

Roots can only extend as far as they receive air and water from the soil above, which is impossible when there's a sidewalk above, which needs to be supported by densely packed gravel otherwise they start breaking up.

The solution is to have at least a 5'x5' tree planter. Most planters are 3'x3' - which explains short, stunted tree lives, and the same for property values."