Publication Number 430-024, posted January 2000 Hot landscape sites require special consideration before trees are planted. Trees can survive, and even thrive, in hot sites if the site is prepared correctly, if heat-tolerant species are selected, and if the trees are properly maintained. A variety of different locations and situations qualify as hot landscape sites. The foremost Norway maple is nearest the paving and as a result has scorched leaves. Areas adjacent to buildings also tend to be hot.
Buildings reflect heat onto trees, especially along southern and western walls.
Heat reflected from the building has scorched the leaves of this linden. Sites near roads and parking lots are hot. When combined with the heat from car fumes and the temperature of asphalt and concrete, these sites can be lethal for trees. The foreground tree is dying because it is planted in a small volume of hot, dry soil in a parking lot. Underground utilities can also create hot sites.