It's no surprise that city appearance contributes greatly to community wellbeing and the liveability of our area, and trees are an attractive feature in any city. They not only look good, they also give us oxygen, reduce our heat footprint, provide canopy for shade, and support a biodiversity of flora and fauna.

Our aim in the 2020/2021 financial year was to successfully have a zero net loss of street trees - meaning for every street tree that needs to be removed, a new tree will be planted in suitable location within the community.

Why do we remove trees anyway? Trees can be removed for a variety of reasons - some are dead or at the end of life (and therefore becoming a safety risk), others may have disease or accidental damage which necessitates removals.

Sometimes the removal of trees to make way for new infrastructure (like housing developments) or changes to existing infrastructure (like a road upgrade) is unavoidable. While it's always hard to see an established tree go, we're committed to replacing any tree removed from our streets.

So how did we go achieving that goal?

The report card is in. During 2020/2021, we;

▪️ Removed 990 trees, including saplings to large trees.
▪️ Replaced/planted: 1,213 trees.

So not only did we cover our 'zero net loss' goal, we also increased the number of trees in our city by over 220.

A busy year for our Tree Team, who also;

▪️ Pruned 16,182 trees (both formative pruning/shaping, and mature tree pruning);
▪️ Performed additional maintenance on 9,187 trees (spraying, re-staking, re-tying, re-mulching); and
▪️ Watered 79,095 trees!

How do we select trees to be planted?

Trees species are purposely selected for each location to provide much needed shade, a healthy & environmentally sustainable landscape and to contribute to keeping our suburbs cooler during the warmer months. Tree species are selected to improve the aesthetics of your neighbourhood and to create an attractive and welcoming public realm in the city.

Playford's trees are managed as part of our annual Street Tree Planting Program. Our program includes all tree planting requests from the community in conjunction with planned-out tree plantings.

The Street Tree Planting program is subject to weather conditions, staff availability, resources, rapid-response requests or emergency work.

How will you know if you're getting a tree?

In the lead up to planting works being undertaken there will be a white “X” on the Council verge in front of your property. This indicates that a tree will be planted in this location.

If you'd like to request a tree for your verge, you can find out how at the link below.