Dead trees along Martin Goodman Trail in downtown Toronto to be replaced

If you frequent the Martin Goodman Trail, you may have noticed that several trees between Spadina Avenue and Jarvis Street are not looking as lively as they should for this time of year.

Multiple London Planes, which were planted in 2015 as part of the Queens Quay revitalization project, have died and now need to be replaced.

“What you’re seeing is what we expected,” Waterfront Toronto communications director Andrew Hilton said.

“When you do new tree plantings about 20 per cent of them won’t make it … you’re putting them in a new location, trees get stressed and some of them don’t make it.”

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Hilton said the trees are covered by a contractor’s warranty and will be replaced by spring 2018.

“We will do an inspection this summer and all the trees we identify this summer will be replaced by the warranty,” he said.

Tait Sala, a certified aborist with Cohen and Master Tree and Shrub Services, said the London Plane tree species have struggled to grow in recent years.

“With London Planes, we’ve seen them struggle the last few years and particularly after last summer. We are noticing a lot of them are dying back or collapsing,” Sala said.

“These urban areas are extremely challenging places to plant into and those first two years of tree establishment are critical ones.”

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Hilton said the trees were chosen with a specific purpose and the large canopy provides shade for those using the trail.

“Around the Martin Goodman Trail, the trees we picked have a purposed of providing a big canopy to provide shade for those walking along Queens Quay and also to provide a bit of dividing zone between pedestrian area, the bicycles lanes and the streetcar right of way,” he said.