Soil Compaction & What It Means for Urban Trees

There are many aspects that need to be taken account of when planting trees in urban areas – one essential factor being soil compaction. It is important to determine site environment and soil conditions in order to mitigate the constraints of compacted soil and create healthy tree planting conditions. In previous blog posts, we have detailed the soil requirements of […]

Making a Big Difference to Global Warming

Urbanized areas may only occupy around 2% of the world’s habitable land, but they are the biggest drivers of global climate change. Referred to as “urban heat islands”, cities are usually hotter than rural areas for numerous reasons. Traffic pollution creates a greenhouse effect that traps heat at night. While the cutting down of local trees means the lose of […]

Soil Requirements of Healthy Urban Trees

Trees require adequate supply of uncompacted, well aerated, and moist soil in order to thrive. These conditions enable tree roots to obtain all the essential elements they require for healthy growth – nutrients, oxygen, and water. These soil circumstances however, are often unavailable in built urban areas. In this article, we provide a soil quality definition […]

11 Tree Experts & Organizations You Should Know About

Local tree experts and organizations can be a valuable resource not only to landscape architects and contractors working on landscape infrastructure projects, but also to local residents. Tree professionals are likely to know about your local tree ordinances and other ways to protect and increase urban tree populations.  Below is a list of the types of […]

Specifying Tree Guards & Tree Grates: What You Need to Know

Tree guards and grates have an important role to play in maintaining healthy tree pit conditions. They can also be as aesthetically pleasing as they are functional, and offer a high quality visual design statement to any public realm or streetscape theme. For over 20 years, GreenBlue has been developing innovative products to assist trees below ground […]

Identifying Urban Tree Planting Opportunities

Clearly, we cannot just simply drop trees in anywhere. To have a chance of success, tree species and location are the first priority in our goal of establishing trees in cities. Planting potentially large trees in wrong locations is counterproductive and will simply turn people against trees. However, equally often we see tree planting sites which could […]

Tree Ordinances: What You May Not Know

Tree ordinances are official policies developed by communities to protect trees, preserve green spaces and manage urban forests. They set standards for selection, planting, maintaining, and preserving urban trees. Ordinances seek to establish a legal means of protecting the public interest and establishing a healthy, well-managed urban environment. Tree ordinances are about understanding the benefits that […]

Why GreenBlue? The Meaning of our New Name

Previously operating in North America as Citygreen Urban, our company name was changed to GreenBlue Urban at the beginning of 2015.  The reason for this new identity is to better express our passion for green infrastructure, stormwater management, and complimenting street furnishings.  Our new name and logo were created with the subliminal message of trees […]

Quick Guide to Suitable Urban Tree Species

Here we have an assortment of tree species suitable for planting in urban areas. Factors such as ornamental value, hardiness and maintenance were taken into consideration in the selection of these trees. The tree species outlined below represent the best selection based on a look at urban specie suitability by GreenBlue Infrastructure Solutions. This article […]