Tree Project
The City of Fort Lauderdale has agreed to donate some very nice trees for us to plant along the streets in our neighborhood. The only cost to us is a $40 per tree planting fee. This cost will be paid for by the homeowners, unless they choose to plant the trees themselves. The choices of trees are below. If you are a Lauderdale Beach homeowner, please fill in the form at the bottom of this page with the type of tree you would like to be planted in front of your house.
Gumbo-Limbo
Royal Poinciana
Silver Buttonwood
Gumbo-limbo is a fast-growing tree that can attain a height of 20-50 ft. It has featherlike leaves and attractive reddish bark that peels away in thin flakes to reveal a smooth gray underbark. It loses its leaves in the winter. The tree's massive trunk is 2-3 ft in diameter and supports huge irregular branches and a spreading, rounded crown. Some birds, including mockingbirds and vireos, regularly consume the deep red fruits of gumbo-limbo during the summer and fall.
Tolerant of salt and chalky soils, the gumbo-limbo thrives with little or no care. It makes a handsome summertime shade tree, and is used as a street tree in coastal cities. It is also considered one of the most wind-tolerant trees in south Florida and is recommended as a good, hurricane-resistant species.
RECOMMENDATION: Anywhere in our neighborhood.
Royal poinciana is a spectacular shade tree in tropical climates. This fast-growing tree grows to 30-40 ft tall, but its elegant wide-spreading umbrella-like canopy can be wider than its height. For several weeks in spring and summer it is covered with exuberant clusters of flame-red flowers, 4-5 in across. Royal poinciana tolerates salty conditions and can be grown near the coast, but not in openly exposed beach conditions.
Yes, there are down sides. Royal poinciana has shallow, wide-spreading roots that will not allow underplanting and the roots can be a threat to building foundations and sidewalks. The tree sheds large woody pods and brittle branches that get broken off in the wind. Seedlings will come up all around the tree. It does not tolerate strong winds, and must be protected from them.
RECOMMENDATION: Not in areas exposed to high wind, or next to buildings, sidewalks, or driveways.
Silver buttonwood is a variety of buttonwood that usually grows as a low branching shrub with several trunks, but can become a small, handsome vase-shaped tree up to 20 ft tall. The evergreen leaves are oblong to lance-shaped, 2-4 in long, and are covered with a dense mat of silky hairs which imparts a beautiful silver-gray color to the plant. The flowers are inconspicuous, but the fruit clusters are rather showy brownish-red cone-like buttons, each containing many tiny fruits.
Silver buttonwood is salt tolerant and thrives in soils that are acidic to alkaline, clayey to sandy, and dry to wet. It does well in cities where air pollution, compacted soils and poor drainage preclude most trees. Silver buttonwood makes an outstanding beachfront tree where it will become contorted and twisted as it adapts to the constant wind and spray.
RECOMMENDATION: Anywhere in our neighborhood.