Showerthought: The new city park plan in Greenville has zero native oaks

I was reading the draft for the Riverside Park redo and saw they're planting 50 red maples and 30 ginkgos... but not a single native oak species. It feels like a big swing towards 'easy' trees that look nice fast, over the long-term stuff that really helps the local bugs and birds. Has anyone else had to push back on a plan like this and get some real natives back in the ground?

3 comments

3 Comments

dakota_miller936h ago

Honestly, does it really matter that much? Ginkgos are tough as nails and look cool in the fall. It's still a park with trees, so it's not like they're paving the whole thing.

the_drew5h ago

Tough as nails" is how we end up with boring stuff everywhere lol

fionat552h ago

Our park swapped ginkgos for oaks and the birds came back.