Neighborhood Nurseries

The Springfield Forestry Division has a long history of growing trees at the municipal nursery at Forest Park.  The Division recently added a propagation greenhouse to the nursery operation.  While we will continue to source trees from outside nurseries for our planting projects, we plan to increase the number of trees we grow right here in Springfield. Temporary Neighborhood Nurseries on city-owned vacant lots, installed with funding provided by this grant, will proved a source of locally grown trees. Each lot will contain roughly 80-100 small trees that will grow there until they are large enough to be transplanted as street trees.

As many communities increase their tree planting efforts, the demand for (and cost of) high quality nursery trees is expected to spike. By growing more of our own trees, we can keep costs lower, be less vulnerable to nursery shortages, and have access to a wider variety of tree species. In addition to boosting our local supply of healthy tree stock, we will also be cleaning up vacant land (often full of invasive species) and reducing the pollution associated with trucking young trees in from commercial nurseries.

The first two Neighborhood Nurseries will be located on Hancock Street in Old Hill and Reed Street in Upper Hill. 

Interested in helping to care for these nursery trees? 

Call or email Candace at 413-482-0593 or CPowning@springfieldcityhall.com.

Why do we need tree nurseries?

In the wild, trees grow from seed – seeds drop from mature trees and germinate (sprout) in the soil below. In managed landscapes, like city streets, the tree growing process happens differently. While some street trees do pop up from seed (we call those volunteers), most are transplanted there after growing for a number of years at a nursery. We need nursery-grown trees for two key reasons:

• Size: It’s useful to be able to plant trees on the street that have already grown to a certain size – that way they are less vulnerable to damage & a little more eye catching!
• Variety: Not all of the types of trees we want to plant are possible to grow from seed. Street tree growing conditions are quite different than forest growing conditions, and sometimes traits that allow a species to thrive in the woods do translate well to urban roadside conditions. Nurseries develop specialized varieties of different tree species (called cultivars) that have traits that help them thrive along city streets and that make them compatible with the requirements of varied kinds of planting locations (re: tree size, form, presence of fruit, etc.).

Why do urban forests need species diversity?

Plant communities are more adaptable and resilient when they contain a wide variety of species. In the urban forest, when there is an overabundance of certain types of trees, vulnerability to pests and disease can increase. For example, if the urban forest contains a large percentage of one species, and that species becomes the target of an invasive pest, then a significant portion of the urban forest has the potential to be degraded or lost all together. Urban forests with a wide variety of tree species (especially ones that include significant native tree populations) provide more habitat and food sources for wildlife.