- Open courtyard within condos and apartments south of the laneway
- Photo: © Luke Tyszkiewicz
This grouping of residential buildings exemplifies the dense, mixed income planning of the St. Lawrence neighbourhood. The building directly to the south comprises privately owned condos, while the buildings on the left and right are geared-to-income co-op housing. Trees in this shared oasis include Austrian pines (Pinus nigra), an adaptable evergreen introduced from Europe in the 1700s; white spruce (Picea glauca) a large grayish-green coniferous tree; red maples (Acer rubrum), one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of eastern North America; and native honey locusts (Gleditsia triacanthos). These trees are a welcome addition to this space as they shade people from the hot sun, offer privacy, and provide habitat for birds and animals.
An unfortunate reality of these trees, however, is that their lives will be cut drastically short because there is not enough soil for their roots to grow. The roots of a tree can extend twice the distance of their canopy in all directions. If the trees in this courtyard were instead grown in an open field, their canopies could reach widths of 50 feet. A lack of soil volume prevents trees from reaching their full potential. The growing roots of the red maples in the raised planters in the south end of the courtyard, for instance, are already breaking apart the stone walls that surround them. Providing greater soil volume would allow the root system to expand out to find more water and nutrients.
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Funding for the program is generously provided by:
