Northwood News ♦ December 2019

Montgomery County Will Plant a Curbside Tree, But You Have to Ask

By Jacquie Bokow

In our neighborhood, there are many homes without trees in the space between the sidewalk and the curb.  Residents are not permitted to plant trees in the right-of-way (ROW) but, at the request of a resident, the county will inspect and plant a tree if spacing allows.

Any tree growing in a street right-of-way is a county-owned tree.  It isn’t always obvious where private property begins, as the line can be several feet into a front yard beyond the edge of the sidewalk or street, says the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT).  The county is responsible for the health and maintenance of county-owned trees and MCDOT is the agency in charge.  Permits are required to do anything that impacts a county-owned tree.

Montgomery County claims it plants roughly 1,800 trees per year in public rights-of way, but trees are replaced only if the property owner requests it.  If you desire that a tree be planted in your right-of-way, you can request a street tree online [https://www3.montgomerycountymd.gov/311/SolutionView.aspx?SolutionId=1-EBMIV] or by calling 311 (inside Montgomery County) or 240.777.0311 (outside county or by cell phone).

A county arborist will inspect your property for appropriate species and location and select the type of tree for the county right-of-way.  You can request a particular type of tree, but there is no guarantee you’ll get what you want.

The list of trees that the county has deemed acceptable appears below.  Amazingly, less than half the trees offered are native to the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  And I was astonished that Quercus alba, the White Oak, Maryland’s State Tree, is not on the list!

Planting usually occurs in late fall and early spring, but can occur in winter if weather permits.  The Tree Maintenance Section says it tries to accommodate requests as soon as the next planting season arrives, but sometimes it may need to wait until the following planting season.

MCDOT claims that one of its representatives will investigate and respond to service requests within 260 business days.  Unfortunately, that amounts to 52 weeks, not counting holidays, which may explain the long stretch of Hannes Street that’s been without curbside trees for years.

New Street Tree Care Information

If a new tree is planted by the county on your property, you’d be expected to:

• Water it once a week during the growing season.  “Deep, less frequent watering is better than frequent, shallow water,” states MCDOT.  They recommend watering at a trickle over several hours to encourage a healthy root system.
• Remulch it after a year.  The new tree should have been mulched with shredded hardwood at the time it was planted by the county, which helps to retain soil moisture and insulate tree roots.  Over time, however, this layer will decompose, so MCDOT recommends replacing the mulch and maintaining a 2–3 inch layer that does not touch the trunk of the tree.  They also say not to pile grass clippings around the tree.
• Call 311 if supports aren’t removed after a year.  The new tree may have been provided with supporting stakes when it was planted, but these should be removed after the first year so the root system develops properly.  MCDOT is supposed to remove the supports after one year.  If they don’t, call 311.

Free Trees for Your Yard

If you want a shade tree planted elsewhere in your yard or garden (not streetside), contact Tree Montgomery, a program of the MoCo Department of Environmental Protection, for a tree that’s free or available at a reduced price.  After one tree is planted in your yard, you can keep signing up to get more.  Get details at treemontgomery.org or call 311 to get on the wait list.  Call now to plant in spring 2021, as they only plant in fall and spring.

The MoCo Planning Department has a free tree program called Shades of Green [montgomeryplanning.org/planning/environment/forest-conservation-and-trees/shades-of-green/ (It seems this exact webpage is no longer available.)] focused on planting trees in urban areas.  The Planning Department also offers a downloadable $40 coupon [montgomeryplanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Tree-coupon-final-OCR.pdf] that can be used to buy and plant shade trees with a retail value of $75 at participating nurseries.

Stump Removal

MCDOT’s budget for tree stump grinding and removal can’t keep up with the number of trees removed from public ROWs.  There is a four-year backlog for removal of curbside tree stumps.  Obviously, new trees cannot be planted until stumps are removed.  Residents can advocate to allocate more money for tree stump removal to the County Executive and Council.   ■

MCDOT List of Available ROW Trees

TALLER SPECIES (“MAJOR TREES”)
(minimum of 40' at maturity, not allowed under power lines)

Scientific Name	Common Name	Height
+Celtis occidentalis	Hackberry/Sugarberry	40'-50'
Cladratis kentukea*	Yellowwood	30'-50'
+Fagus grandifolia	American Beech	50'-90'
Ginkgo biloba	Ginkgo (male, fruitless)	50'-80'
Gymnocladus dioicus	Kentucky Coffeetree (male, fruitless)	60'-75'
+Liquidambar styraciflua	Sweetgum (fruitless)	65'-75'
+Nyssa sylvatica	Blackgum	40'-70'
Platanus × acerifolia	London Planetree	70'-80'
Quercus lyrata	Overcup Oak	45'-55'
+Quercus bicolor	Swamp White Oak	60'-80'
Quercus macrocarpa	Bur Oak	70'-80'
+Quercus muehlenbergii	Chinquapin Oak	40'-60'
+Quercus phellos	Willow Oak/Pin Oak	60'-75'
+Quercus rubra	Northern Red Oak	60'-80'
Styphnolobium japonicum*	Japanese Pagoda Tree	40'-70'
+Taxodium distichum	Bald or Swamp Cypress	50'-70'
Tilia tomentosa	Silver Linden	50'-60'
Tilia americana	American Linden	50'-80'
+Ulmus americana	American Elm	60'-80'
Ulmus parvifolia	Lacebark Elm	40'-45'
Zelkova serrata	Zelkova	50'-60'

SHORTER SPECIES (“MINOR TREES”)
(maximum 35', may be planted directly under power lines)

Scientific Name	Common Name	Height
Acer buergerianum	Trident Maple	30'-35'
Acer ginnala	Amur maple	15'-20'
Amelanchier laevis*	Serviceberry (single stem)	25'-35'
+Carpinus caroliniana	American Hornbeam	20'-40'
+Cercis canadensis*	Eastern Redbud	20'-30'
Chionanthus retusus*	Chinese Fringetree	10'-20'
+Cornus florida*	White Flowering Dogwood	20'-30'
+Cornus florida ‘rubra’*	Pink Flowering Dogwood	20'-30'
Cornus kousa*	Kousa Dogwood	15'-20'
+Crataegus viridis	Green Hawthorn	20'-35'
Koelreuteria paniculata*	Goldenraintree	30'-40'
+Magnolia virginiana*	Sweetbay Magnolia	10'-35'
Malus ×*	Flowering Crabapple	20'-25'
+Ostrya virginiana	Ironwood	25'-40'
Parrotia persica	Persian Parrotia	20'-40'
Pistacia chinensis	Chinese Pistache	30'-35'
+Prunus virginiana ‘Schubert’*	Purple-leaf Chokecherry	20'-30'
Prunus × incamp ‘Okame’*	Okame Cherry	15'-25'
Syringa reticulata*	Japanese Tree Lilac	20'-25'

* Denotes a flowering tree
+ Native to the Piedmont area of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.  The NFCCA strongly urges you to choose only native species for your yard.
Source:  www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DOT-Highway/Tree/TreePlant.html