Why trees are thriving on this busy downtown Toronto street

When Todd Irvine bikes down Toronto’s Lower Sherbourne Street, he sees possibility.

The trees that line this busy road between Front and the Gardiner are green, healthy, and full. It’s quite a contrast to the construction just across the street and the ailing trees with crunchy, weak leaves and thin canopies about a block away.

“These are trees that would primarily grow in a forest, and here they are growing with hard surfaces and asphalt and pavement,” Irvine, an arborist, told CityNews.

That’s because the trees have space to grow and thrive. Irvine said a single tree in the city ideally needs 30 cubic metres of soil. Large, open beds of soil line the sidewalks from one end of Lower Sherbourne to the other and trees are planted in spaces they can share.

Mulch and compost are spread under the trees. Craig Wadman/CityNews

The beds below are nourished with perennial plants, flowers, and mulch replicating the forest floor. It’s all protected by low metal fences that help keep people, dogs and bikes off the soil.

“If they walk on top of the bare soil, it compacts the soil, and by doing that, it presses down on the roots and makes it very hard for water to get penetrated for those roots to grow, and trees will die as a result,” said Irvine. “By keeping the people out, it allows the soil to be fluffy and moist.”

Irvine said the Old Town Toronto Business Improvement Area pays a contractor to frequently water the trees. Watering bags fitted around some trunks mean maintenance workers don’t have to come back as often.

The green gator bags, as they’re known, have little holes underneath and slowly seep water into the ground. They were full when Irvine checked them with CityNews on Monday, a day when the temperature reached 30 degrees.

The City of Toronto told CityNews the 2022 budget for Parks, Forestry and Recreation included approximately $36 million to fund tree maintenance services city-wide. But Irvine said in cities striving to keep taxes low, trees often don’t get the resources they need.

He noted the Old Town Toronto BIA puts a lot of its own resources into ensuring its corner of the urban jungle is cared for properly.

“We have this notion that trees don’t grow in cities, and cities are these hostile places that are all concrete, but it doesn’t need to be,” said Irvine. “One of the easiest things we can do is not only plant more trees but care for them.”

To replicate the success on Lower Sherbourne, Irvine said cities should try to give trees lots of space.

“There’s a lot of places due to underground infrastructure and limited road width where it’s very hard,” he acknowledged. But in the short term, he said the city needs to identify where it can be done during future reconstruction.

“That’s what I love about this project. It’s an example that it’s possible.”