Get Thee to a Shade Tree!

Ficus at the corner of South Lakeside Drive and Third Avenue South

What sweet relief to find a little shade on a day like today. We have some gorgeous shade trees in Lake Worth, but not near enough of them...which calls to mind an article I happened to find online some months back: "Shade Tree Planting in Southern Florida," written I think in the 1950s by a man named Gaines R. Wilson and published in the journal of the Florida State Horticultural Society.

"The planting of shade trees in Southern Florida is the most important but the most neglected part of general landscaping in our towns and around our homes" Wilson writes. "This would not be such a serious oversight were it not that the charm of almost any house, avenue or park is due to trees. They give a feeling of permanence, dignity and peace which it is impossible to secure in any other way."

Wilson gives two reasons South Florida has not paid more attention to the planting of shade trees. First, Florida is still a new state, and people who continue to migrate here from the north are unfamiliar with the kinds of trees that are suited to this climate. And second, there is a bias against shade trees and in favor of palms, a kind of "umbriphobia."

"Instead of shade and palm trees being used in a complementary manner, one group supplementing the other, the plams have almost totally supplanted the shade trees," Wilson writes.

Wilson also talks of the preference of builders to clear lots of all of their trees before building, rather than building homes around mature trees that will contribute to their beauty and value.

On a day like today (89 degrees, but 96 degrees 'real feel'), I find myself very much in agreement with Gaines R. Wilson, and wonder how and why it is that many backyards in Lake Worth have no trees to speak of and many front yards have only a couple of palms, if that. During the very warm months, this renders a yard unusable, and keeps the sun beating down on the roof. On the other hand, a nice large shade tree gives a wonderful sort of outdoor room. And throwing shade on the roof must save a couple hundred each year at least on electric bills.

The top shade trees Wilson recommends for South Florida include Live Oak ("One of the finest and largest native shade trees. Well known. Cannot be duplicated. One of the best"), Sapodilla, Mahogany, Tamarind, and five different kinds of ficus, including the Spanish Laurel and the Sycamore Fig.

See the full list here: http://www.fshs.org/Proceedings/Password%20Protected/1937%20Vol.%2050/63-68%20(WILSON).pdf