Cincinnati’s downtown is reasonably compact. It’s an eminently walkable downtown, made more so by the fact that its southern border is a very large river.
The walkability factor is aided as well by its grid-like layout. Not a perfect grid, somewhat askew, but essentially a grid, with numbered streets running east to west, and pillared parallels running north to south: Broadway, Main, Central, Race, Vine, and so on.
Four of those north-to-south conduits, however, are tree streets. From west to east, they are Plum, Elm, Walnut, and Sycamore. If you need a mnemonic device to remember them for the quiz, they spell out “pews” from west to east.
Anyhow, Tree Images, your local tree service company is here to explain what trees dominate the downtown Cincinnati area:
Plum
- Plums are one of the two most cultivated fruits on the planet. Only watermelons are produced more.
- Six of our seven continents grow plums. Get on board, Antarctica!
- Plums grow best in temperate areas, so never mind, Antarctica.
Elm
- There are as many as 40 species of elm, and they all started out in central Asia.
- The tallest elms can be as tall as 115 feet.
- The elm’s flowers contain reproductive organs that are both male and female, and are therefore termed “bisexual.”
Walnut
- Some walnut varieties can live up to 200 years.
- The deep brown wood of the black walnut tree is excellent for lumber, and for commercial construction uses.
- Anthropologists believe that humans have been eating walnuts for nearly 10,000 years.
Sycamore
- Some sycamore trees can live up to 400 years, and the canopy of a single sycamore can be 50 feet wide.
- Sycamores are, sadly, very susceptible to tree diseases.
- The spiky balls which these trees produce are used to start new trees, and these spiked spheres are often used as Christmas tree ornaments.
