Giant West End tulip tree threatened

We’re running an excerpt from the main VPSN blog that we know will be of interest to Great Tree enthusiasts. It concerns a spectacular specimen of tulip tree found in the West End – one which is currently threatened by development pressures.  You can find the main post here.

Over the years, density bonusing has acted as an important tool in Vancouver’s city-building methodology. It’s a tool with which planners, guided by Council, have used to support the development or enhancement of important public benefits – parks, community facilities, and public art to name a few. Under the process, extra allowable height (“density”) is permitted on a given project, and in exchange for this, developers provide a public good.

Heritage preservation, as a type of public good, has also been factored into this process — and through this scheme various aspects of Vancouver’s material culture have been supported. Important building fascades have been preserved, historic structured restored, and key architectural features have received protection.

But when it comes to our natural heritage — that great commonwealth of green and blue that one sees on all the postcards — the ability to use the density bonusing as a preservation tool begins to run into difficulty.

Earlier today City Council has voted against providing a heritage density bonus to a West End developer. The developer wanted to access the bonus in exchange for working around the largest known specimen of tulip tree in the city…. [more]

Vancouver to gain another tree street?

Vancouver has a lovely tradition of streets named after trees.  Maple, Larch, Ash, Arbutus and others cross a number of neighbourhoods in their north-south journey across the city.  Tomorrow, this grove of tree streets may just find themselves joined by a brand-new arboreal colleague.

The City’s Street Name Committee will be presenting a report to City Council that would see a one-block component of MacDonald between West 16th and 17th renamed Bonsai Street.  The particular segment is adjacent to a brief jog and split in MacDonald that has created some confusion over the years (both the jog and this one block split are both called “MacDonald” even though they run parallel).

The solution: a new name for this tiny branch of a road… and a nice nod to the Japanese art of ornamental dwarf trees.

Everything that encompasses a summer day in the city

My favourite tree is a ruby red horse chestnut that sits between the cricket pitch and the rugby pitch at Brockton Oval in Stanley Park. It’s my favourite tree because I always sit under it in the summer when I spend a weekend day at Stanley Park. It provides a great shady viewing point when watching cricket and rugby, and often has players sitting under it providing their own commentary on the matches!

The tree is at the top of a hill that looks down onto the seawall, so it a great spot for watching people making their way around. It is also a great tree to sit under when watching seaplanes taking off and landing, and for watching the cruise ships leaving for Alaska come 5 o’clock on Saturdays and Sundays!

As someone who’s not from Vancouver or used to the sunny summer days, the tree provides great shade and a place to experience everything that encompasses a summer day in the city.

– Lynsey Dobbie, Community Garden Co-Coordinator

Pretty profound Tree Awe

This gorgeous tree climbs high to the sky between Burrard and Cypress. Running home one day from work I slowed down to take in the setting sun hitting it’s ferny inhabitants. A truly magnificent tall green being, it inspired some pretty profound Tree Awe. Walking down this entire block is a symphony of thick trunks and flourishing greenery ~ highly recommended.

– Maia L.