Hi, I visit this gorgeous city every year and once lived briefly on Trafalgar St between 6th and 5th ave. The street is shaded by the loveliest vase-shaped trees. Nobody who lives there can tell me their name. Can someone help?
Vase shaped makes me think they may be elms. That is on my way home so I will try to swing by if I have time. Maybe somebody on the forums knows those trees.
I stopped by that block on the way home yesterday. They do look like some type of elm, but I am not that good with specific tree ID.
Aw jeez, Eric. What a letdown! Tch! Vancouver has streets lined with some fairly conspicuous Ulmus minor forms, maybe it's one of those. Dr. Straley's book might even mention the very planting seen.
Hey guys, I share a car, which I rarely seem to get to use, I don't own a camara, so I have to borrow that too. I can get photos this weekend and now I am curious. I also know of several other great tree lined streets in my general neighborhood (between Kits and UBC). I really thought some local (like Paul - I have lived here only two years) would know that street right off. I really don't have any formal training in taxonomy, so I only ID common plants from the landscape/garden and weeds. My father knew the (common) names of all the trees in the woods where I grew up. He never seemed to want to share that knowledge with me, even when I asked. I never made a serious study of it on my own so I only know the most basic types of trees. We will work on this, I can get pics and we will figure it out.
The copy in the MacMillan library is not on the shelf (Should be. It is reference). So I will have to try for one of the other copies. Not sure if this is in the Garden's library?
OK, I stopped by to take photos of the trees, but I am still waiting to get the images transferred to me. I was doubtful about my earlier ID because I did not see a bunch of telltale round seeds in the area. My second guess was Carpinus. I consulted Gerald Straley's Trees of Vancouver and he clearly identified the planting as Carpinus betulus 'Fastigiata'. These trees line Trafalger from 4th Ave. to Broadway. I wrote that I was not that good with trees. I will post the good pics here when I get them. Now I just hope our unregistered British friend returns to this post before I remove the redirect.
Hello, This is the unregistered Brit back. Gosh! It took quite a few posts before we got there. I'd looked through the Trees of Vancouver book but will now return to it. Thanks for all the interest, though I honestly thought somebody would just yawn, rollover and say, "well they're "arbus trafalgar-broadwayus" (or somesuch) duh!" I did think they were related to forms of hazel that I've seen in the UK. I guess they don't have a common name. I'd thought witchhazel. Thanks everyone - your city is a fabulous place!
