Every now and again I come across an opinion about tree spacing: someone loves to cram trees close together, someone else protests that anything less than specimen-width spacing leads to poor air circulation and disease. Maybe it really depends on the effect for which you’re aiming.
Here’s a photo of the entry drive at Regis College in Weston, MA. It is lined with Katsura trees (Cercidiphyllum japonicum), spaced at about 15′ on center. Planted in the mid-40s, the trees are now over 65 years old. Some of them are in decline — though it’s hard to say if that’s because they’re spaced so closely, if it’s because they’re so close to the road, or if they’re simply tired.
They do give instant identifiability to this entry drive. Planted before the concept of branding ever existed, they symbolize passage between the public realm and the academia of Regis.
Deborah Howe
Toby Wolf
