To paraphrase Elizabeth Barrett Browning, dear trees: Why do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

Trees convert carbon dioxide in the air into wood, thus removing this ever-increasing greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. This slows down the heating of our planet and hopefully gives more time for plant and animal species, including humans, to adapt. This is a future benefit which requires current planning.

In the near term and keeping it personal, the average tree releases enough oxygen to supply the oxygen needs of four people. Oxygen should be everyone's favorite gas.

Also in the near term, trees ameliorate the heat island effect in cities, keeping us cooler. They provide shade which prevents the sun's rays from baking the soil and concrete, and us. We planted only deciduous trees along the north side of the park along the NxNW townhomes. These trees provide shade in the summer and allow the sun's rays to heat up those homes in winter. There is one evergreen along that northern fence, a black pine, but that was planted in 1991, twenty-five years before the townhomes were built. We do like conifers, so we planted a bald cypress and a dawn redwood in that section, but these conifers are deciduous and still act like the deciduous hardwoods. 

Trees also transpire. A tree absorbs soil water via its roots. This water rises in thin tubes within the tree and is released through tiny openings in the leaves. At these tiny openings, called stomata, the molecules of water in the liquid phase absorb enough heat to break bonds holding them together. The liquid water becomes a gas. This absorption of heat to provide this phase change is one reason it feels so much cooler in the park than on the street. It feels cooler because it is cooler!

Studies support what we already know: trees make us feel good. Although it's difficult to prove which is cause and which is effect, neighborhoods with trees have lower crime rates, less antisocial behavior, less litter and graffiti, and happier residents. As discussed on our Darwin in Baldwin Park page, humans evolved in the forest and most of our ape relatives still live there. We have a subconscious affinity for woods and our spirits are rejuvenated there.

City folks tend to be dissociated from food sources, but let's not forget that trees provide food. The only crabapple in the park that bears fruit that approaches the two-inch diameter requirement to be called an apple is in the southeast corner of the park. Its fruit is quite tart, but suitable for applesauce and cider if one were so inclined. The other crabapples are miniscule. The contorted filbert rarely bears fruit and the purple-leaf plum even more rarely. But we should not be so human-centric. The white oak and red oak provide acorns to the squirrels. The hawthorns, sweetgum, pagoda tree, golden rain, dogwoods, magnolias, all the conifers -- all provide nourishing fruit or seeds to the birds, and/or pollen or nectar for the bees and butterflies.

Humans cherish art. Baldwin Park, the entire two-acre park, is a Percent for Art installation designed by Athena Tacha and dedicated in 1992. The artistry is in the design of the central planting beds with the evocative granite plinths, but also in the trees selected for planting. Sitting on a bench is a contemplative experience when surrounded by the beauty of the trees, one reason Baldwin Park is listed first in a list of best outdoor places to meditate in Philadelphia. The witch hazel bears flowers in the cold winter months, but the other trees really throw off the winter in April and May, bringing smiles of anticipation of sunnier days. In autumn the color changes are beautiful, but like memento mori symbols in still life paintings, remind us that life and beauty are evanescent.