Casey Trees: “Each fall, members of the Society of Municipal Arborists (SMA) nominate and vote for the SMA Urban Tree of the Year. This tradition dates to 1996 when the urban workhorse ‘Princeton Sentry’ Ginkgo was crowned. And for 2020 the Urban Tree of the Year is none other than the Celtis occidentalis or the common Hackberry!

New York Tree Trust Development Director and NYSUFC Board Member James Kaechele summed up the magic of the Hackberry, “This fine native tree is an underestimated contributor to many an urban forest. With a wide native range from New England through the Mid-Atlantic and west to Wyoming, hackberry grows in rocky, alkaline sites where other trees may struggle. It weathers cold and windy winters through USDA Hardiness Zone 2 and sweats the hot summers of Zone 9; it seems equally happy curbside in Toronto as it does in a Washington, D.C. neighborhood park.”..