They can grow to be as tall as 100 feet, although they are now fighting a kind of anthracnose that affects the growing tips of twigs in spring. Pin oaks are straight and graceful with sweeping lower branches and leaves that tend to stay on well into winter. They can grow to be from 50 to 80 feet. American lindens, or basswood, are not widely available for planting, but may be found growing up and down the Housatonic in great numbers. They have large heart-shaped leaves, very soft wood and a beautiful perfume when blooming.
Red maples are ubiquitous in New England.
They are an indicator of wetlands but will grow everywhere else as well. Their buds and flowers in late winter and early spring are scarlet, and their fall leaf color is astonishing. One hackberry tree was planted along the path by the Sarah Deming Chapter of the Children of the American Revolution in remembrance of children who have lost their lives to the river. You may notice other bottomland trees that grow here, including a huge cottonwood by the elevated path and silver maples that lean over the river. In their shade grow slippery elms and box elder, a scrub maple unfairly maligned for its messy clusters of seeds.