The Top 8 Benefits of Planting Trees
A tree is a beautiful thing, and there are so many varieties of them. Stately oaks, colourful maples, sturdy pines—there’s even a wide range of ornamental, flowering and fruit trees to choose from. No matter your favourite kind, there is a tree for everyone. And when you need to plant a new one, you give the expert Edmonton arborists at Trusty Tree Services a call. Our experienced ISA-certified arborists are well versed in what trees work best for the greater Edmonton area, and can provide you with expert advice on how to best care for your newly planted tree, so it will thrive for years to come.
But why should you plant a tree? Besides increasing your home’s curb appeal, there are a myriad of benefits of planting trees, including improving the health and well-being of not only your surrounding environment, but yourself as well.
Continue reading to learn more about the benefits of planting trees, or speak to one of our customer service representatives today to learn what plants would work best for your outdoor space.
Benefits of Tree Planting—As If You Need More Reasons!
Not everyone has easy access to nature. But if you plant a tree, it makes for a long-term investment for your property, providing joy and shelter throughout the years. Whether you are looking for a replacement tree, a seedling or sapling, or even a mature tree, our knowledgeable arborists can help you choose the right tree for you and provide professional tree planting services.
There are plenty of reasons why you should have deciduous or conifer trees on your property. Some of the amazing benefits of planting trees include:
Improved Energy Conservation
You already know that trees provide shade, but did you know they can also help lower your energy bill? Having trees around your home can help shield it from strong winds in the winter, helping preserve heat in your home, and by shading your home in the summer heat with their leafy canopies, they help keep your home cooler.
This natural method of temperature regulation can significantly reduce your need for air conditioning and heating, leading to overall lower energy consumption and savings on your utility bills. It’s a win-win situation for both the environment and your wallet.
Reducing Heat Island Effect With Urban Temperature Regulation
Much like their effect on your home, urban trees can help offset the effects of extreme heat and chill on streets, public spaces, and other municipal areas.
Shade from leafy canopies shade streets, helping to cool down streets, parking lots, and other hot surfaces, as well as parks and sidewalk areas, creating a more pleasant environment for pedestrians and reducing the urban heat island effect. Furthermore, during winter, evergreens can act as windbreaks, with a well-placed treeline helping to provide protection against cold winds and helping to conserve heat within urban buildings. Initiatives like green roofs can also improve the overall city environment.
This helps make urban environments more liveable during periods of intense heat and cold, which in turn will lead to increased use and economic growth.
Stormwater Management
While some water is good, a lot of water all at once is bad. Trees can help reduce the impact of run-off on your home and its surrounding environment by absorbing excess water through their root systems, preventing runoff and erosion. Additionally, they can improve the quality of the soil, making it more resilient to waterlogged conditions and natural disasters like landslides.
In urban settings with more hard, absorbent surfaces, trees serve as natural sponges that help to minimize flooding and filter pollutants from rainwater before they infiltrate the underground water tables. Their leaves and branches also play a critical role in intercepting rainfall, which is an important benefit of planting trees, ultimately reducing the burden on city drainage systems.
Natural Noise Buffering
A wall of trees can provide a measure of privacy for your home by obstructing views, but they can also act as a noise buffer as well. When the sound waves reach the reaches, it gets intercepted by the dense foliage, which disrupts the waves’ path and diminishes their intensity before they can reach beyond the trees. This natural barrier can significantly reduce noise pollution, creating a more tranquil and secluded environment for residents. This is especially beneficial in urban or suburban areas where traffic noise can be an ongoing issue.
Evergreens tend to work best for year-round noise buffering, as they have foliage that reaches the ground compared to deciduous varieties that lose their leaves in fall, resulting in a significant reduction in noise reduction capabilities during winter months. Another benefit of planting trees is that the dense foliage of evergreens absorbs sound more effectively.
Protecting and Creating Wildlife Habitats
Sure, you may not like that squirrel your dog keeps barking at, but without the diversity of wildlife in our neighborhood, the ecological balance could be thrown off. Each creature, no matter how small or annoying, plays a significant role in the health of our environment.
Your oaks, willows, aspens, pines and flowering varieties all provide valuable shelter for your neighbourhood’s wildlife population. They offer a place for birds to nest, insects to flourish, and mammals to find refuge, creating a vibrant ecosystem right in your backyard. This benefit of planting trees helps not only your own yard, but your entire community, to flourish.
Improved Aesthetic Appeal
People enjoy seeing plants, and value properties with towering canopies and broad branches. Streets that have urban forests lining them are considered to be more attractive than those with open lawns, and people will pay more for homes on these greenery-filled streets.
Properties featuring trees often convey a sense of a more vibrant and healthier yard. Even a single tree can have a positive impact on someone’s view of a space. Trees improve soil conditions by protecting your property from excess run-off and soil erosion, giving the appearance of a more stable and sustainable landscape.
Reduced Stress and Improved Health
There is a term in Japanese, Shinrin-yoku, which in English translates as “forest bathing.” It refers to the therapeutic practice of immersing yourself in a forest or natural setting, engaging your senses to foster a profound connection with nature.
You don’t need to even go outside to participate in this practice—studies have shown the stress-reducing or relaxing effect that looking at plants can have. Even having plants inside your home can have a positive effect on your health and well-being, reducing mental fatigue.
The more trees, flora and landscaping that an urban environment has, the more likely people will engage with public infrastructure and local businesses. After all, if given the choice, would you rather walk through a more natural landscape in a city park or a concrete block?
The former option not only provides aesthetic pleasure but also improves mental health, making cities more livable and inviting, increasing social interactions and creating connected communities. This in turn increases the use of alternative methods of transportation, such as public transit, walking and bicycling, which in turn reduces the city’s overall carbon footprint further and provides more opportunities for business at the local level for an economic benefit. Incorporating green spaces into urban planning is therefore essential for fostering community well-being and economic success.
Promoting a Healthy Environment
Like other plants, trees and shrubs provide environmental benefits by acting as a natural filter to help protect us from air pollution and other pollutants. By absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, they significantly contribute to air quality and climate regulation, and by absorbing harmful heavy metals, nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus in the soil, they help protect our clean water sources and create healthy soil.
Forests and flora of all kinds help improve soil and water conservation, capture harmful pollutants like carbon, and moderate the local climate by regulating extreme temperatures, providing shade, increasing wildlife habitat and making the land better able to adapt to climate change. These benefits of planting trees, known as ecological services, would be very difficult and expensive for humans to replicate, if possible at all. Moreover, they serve as critical support systems for our environment and planet, enabling a balance that sustains various forms of life, including our own.
Choose Trusty Tree Services, and See the Benefits of Planting Trees For Yourself
Each tree species not only varies in its appearance but serves an important role in nature’s greater ecosystem. For instance, an oak tree provides a robust habitat and food source for various wildlife, while a willow plays a crucial role in water purification and soil stabilization. But all different types of trees can provide numerous social and health benefits for yourself, your green space, and your community’s quality of life.
Whatever your tree care service needs, whether you are planting one or need help with routine care, you can count on the skilled arborists at Trusty Tree Services to provide excellent customer service and provide you with the knowledge you need to ensure your tree’s long-term health. Our ISA-certified arborists will help you choose an appropriate species, assess the condition of your property, and take care of the planting and resulting clean-up, so you receive the full benefits of planting trees.
Family-owned and operated, and proudly serving the greater Edmonton area, including Sherwood Park, Stony Plain, Leduc, and the surrounding areas, we are the tree care company you can trust. Contact us today, or request a free quote online, and see how we can take care of your trees.