Photos by John Kilcullen

#1 Sublime “Downtown Doors” Series Photo-Documents Staten Island Trees & Homes from 1940 to Today

No one loves Staten Island’s trees and homes more than John Kilcullen (and his dog, Walker). This fabulous pictorial with super interesting historical interpretation is not to be missed.

Photo by Bill Haws

#2 Underutilized Trees for Urban Use: Chinese Fringe Tree

There’s a hunger among urban tree enthusiasts for posts like this about lesser-known species like Chinese fringe tree (Chionanthus retusus), which appears to be considerably more resistant to Emerald Ash Borer than native fringe tree (C. virginicus).

Nina Bassuk with students learning about bare root tree planting. Photo Courtesy Nina Bassuk

#3 Transplanting and a Deeper Look at “Fall Hazards”

What “fall hazards” are actually hazardous to plant in fall, and why? The Council’s most popular post over its seven-year history, this includes Dr. Nina Bassuk’s seminal section, “The Five Branches of Transplanting Success.”

Photo by Nina Bassuk

#4 Underutilized Trees for Urban Use: ‘Regal Prince’ Oak

Regal Prince is the trademark name for Quercus x warei ‘Long’, a narrow, upright hybrid of fastigiate English oak (Quercus robur f. fastigiata) and swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor). In Ithaca, Nina Bassuk and Andy Hillman first planted Regal Prince in 2005, and the oaks have performed well there ever since.

Photo by Michelle Sutton

#5 Musclewood (Carpinus caroliniana) is 2022 SMA Urban Tree of the Year

This iconic native understory tree of the eastern U.S. and southern Canada with gorgeous sinewy bark was voted 2022 Urban Tree of the Year by the Society of Municipal Arborists.

American hophornbeam in fall color. Photo by Cene Ketcham

#6 Urban Tree of Merit: American Hophornbeam

Urban Forester Cene Ketcham’s piece from 2018 found hundreds of new readers in 2021. It’s a great read at any moment, but perhaps was used by some readers to compare and contrast American hophornbeam with the SMA 2022 Urban Tree of the Year, musclewood, aka hornbeam.

Photo Courtesy Christine Carmichael

#7 Creating More Equitable Urban Forests by Understanding and Responding to Historical Trauma

Fair Forests Founder and Principal Dr. Christine Carmichael did her doctoral field work for four years in Detroit exploring the historical and current-day reasons why some Detroiters were resistant to tree planting efforts. The results are fascinating and informative … a must-read for the urban and community forestry field. 🌳