I was travelling along a road in my home town of Cambridge, England, on a sunny day last week and saw the wonderful Springtime pink cherry blossom on its newly planted trees... and it got me wondering about that specific road, and the use of trees in enhancing urban landscape in general.

It's a well known 'trick' that planting trees along roadsides enhances landscape values, both spiritually, physically and economically... but this road in particular has an interesting story.

It is called Milton Road, and has bus lanes along its wider stretches. In early 2002, it was proposed that trees be removed so that Cambridge's newly planned Busway could get buses in and out of the city centre to connect to it without seriously affecting existing traffic. After a solid debate and changes of plans and budgets, the road where the trees was not dualled and most of the trees survived.

However, it is not to say they will stay safe forever... councils are always changing their minds... and, at least as it appeared to me, the trees in blossom that I saw were new trees anyway (complete with original nursery planting bags at their root bases). I take this to mean there must be a short term plan at least to keep the road at its current width.

But what annoyed me a touch later was the fact I passed by happy - and forgot that cherry trees are not native plants, and are ornamental trees with a short lifespan and, apart from their role in providing pollen to bees in Spring and berry-eating birds in Winter, not particularly beneficial to urban wildlife.

What other urban trees should we planting?

I like Oaks. Pedunculate or Sessile, no bother. They are the tree we all know first from childhood (barring the Christmas Tree), and the one where we learn about the lifecycle of a germinating seed and acorn that then matures into a tree with a beautiful shape and crown, with gnarly limbs, millions of leaves and the provision of house and home for numerous other animals beyond count.

Fact: Oaks support the highest levels of biodiversity of any native tree in the UK.

Near my flat there is a simple terraced area of housing where there are three wonderful large, and old, Oaks that the road (Oak Tree Avenue) is presumably named after. And in immediate vicinity, there are other roads named after various tree species, although it is not so easy to see the specific trees that were presumably planted/incorporated along them in comparison.

....

It is true that 'woodland' trees such as Oaks and Ash do not provide much in the way of Spring colour and the major point is that they can take a long time to grow and get established. They are also much more expensive and can get so massive that their roots and height can become a danger to house foundations in later life.

Alternatively, blossoming trees such as Hawthorn, are more hedge-like in appearence and do not always look so good as a stand-alone 'standard' tree. They also have rather nasty thorns that are hard to tolerate by some people living in urban areas.

When I start thinking about decent large trees that suit urban areas, I always start with the (London) Plane tree. Not only does it look good when established, but it also has attractive, continuously peeling bark that is well known to tolerate pollution - and absorb it. I guess its main faults are the same though: it is also slow-growing, does not bloom in Spring and looks a touch fragile when small.

So... is there a native tree out there that can provide that Spring blossom, grow quickly but also live for a reasonably long time and not bankrupt a council with high planting or maintenance costs?

Suggestions please!

If there is: then I'd say that that is the tree that should be planted down roads like Milton Road, Cambridge... and not Ornamental Cherry Trees, however pretty they may be at this time of the year.

Cheers.