The Observation Deck

Lakewood used to be full of beautiful Elm trees, prior to the great die-off of the mid-20th century. Back in 2000, a few varieties of DED (Dutch-Elm disease)-resistant Elms were released to public purchase by the USDA. My dad, having grown-up in Lakewood, remembered the Elm-lined streets of his youth and planted one in his yard over in Fairview Park, and it has flourished. Here's a great link with photos of resistant varieties as full-grown, mature trees: http://www.botanyshop.com/ValleyForge.htm (Of course, other vendors also offer these varieties, but few offer such great photo examples of mature trees. We are now considering planting one in our tree lawn. Does anyone have any input on the tree selection process for the city, i.e. guidelines/recommendations?

I actually just planted one of these new varieties in my back yard to replace a tree that we had to have cut down. Elms are beautiful trees.

I'm not sure you CAN plant a tree on your tree lawn as the city owns it. If you want a tree call City Hall and ask for whatever department handles tree planting as I think the arborist has been let go.

Every street needs a certain uniformity of trees on the tree lawn. For example, the street you live on has only oaks and sycamores. Years ago every tree lawn had one oak near the sidewalk and one sycamore closer to the street...it was beautiful. Now that many of those trees are gone the city is SLOWLY replacing them with oak tress more centered on the tree lawn.

Some years ago the city replaced my dying cherry tree with what gives every indication of being an elm. Perhaps you can call them and check. They even come out every few years and prune it; I guess the tall people who walk their dogs here were tired of ducking.

Some years ago the city replaced my dying cherry tree with what gives every indication of being an elm. Perhaps you can call them and check. They even come out every few years and prune it; I guess the tall people who walk their dogs here were tired of ducking.

We've already an old oak at one end of the tree lawn; given the available space, we'd like to be pro-active and start another tree prior to removing the original. I've lived in Lakewood my entire life and hate to see whole streets lose their canopies due to poor arbor management/disease/accidents. Lakewood streets should be shady and inviting, not sparsely littered with small ornamental trees and shrubs, sawgrasses or hedgerows.

Will, I also grew up on McKinley; ornamental cherry was/is a bad choice for that street. I'm glad to hear that the city may be incorporating the new elms into the city plan. Apparently, the elm is a lot less invasive when it comes to burrowing-up sidewalks (like oaks), or clogging sanitary sewer-lines (like silver maples).

Well considering the city is about 700 trees behind where they want to be, as far as trees planted, they might be wiling to negotiate a little on letting someone plant a tree on their tree lawn.

If any one dose find out any specifics about the rules the city has regarding what kind of trees where, who and when they can be planted ect. pleas let me know. I am interested to find out everything regarding that.

Last time I asked, if I wanted a tree that was different than the tree the city would plant, I would pay for it myself and plant it myself. I would also be responsible for calling the utilities number to make sure I wasn't digging in the wrong place.

There were reactions regarding pollution and salt that made some trees more attractive than others, which was worth hearing about.

I can't remember the last time I spoke with any city employee and had anything but a helpful conversation.

The City of Lakewood planted some disease resistant elm trees on our street about 5 or 6 years ago. (I live on Homewood on the south end between Lake and Edgewater) At first I was disappointed because they looked really wimpy next to some of the oaks on our street. A few of them didn't make it through the first winter. The ones that made it have really filled out and have taken off in height as well. I think they are going to make the street look so much better in the coming years.



Mary Breiner

Trees take a lot of space and work. If we really want an impressive display of what Lakewood is about, we could all leave our new garbage containers on the tree lawn, properly aligned, of course. They are green.

That would also solve the problem for people who don't have space to move them in and out of their driveways.

i noticed a shortage of picket fences in front yards in Lakewood. are there prohibitive regulations against front yard fences?