These are campus trees. In contrast, landscape architects speak of parking lot trees, those species that are quick to mature, fill in over a brief number of years, and may even realize a showy effect of blossoms. However, those species tend also to be relatively quick to die off, becoming unsightly, sometimes within a generation. While the Avenue of Oaks demonstrates a beneficial lesson for the durability of species, it also suggests a potential weakness. Ever since the Dutch Elm disease devastated the tree-lined streets of numerous Midwestern cities, ecologists have encouraged a rightful wariness of monoculture plantings.
Recent research reflects myriad and surprising benefits from biodiversity.
Thus, new campus open spaces to be newly created or re-formed should be include several types of trees to complement each other. The south Alabama ecology offers a rich and diverse and wonderfully textured palette of plant materials from which to begin. Live oaks, magnolias, some pines, and selected palms head the lists of durable campus trees. These can be used to set the living framework of plant materials to be extended and embellished with long lists of other lesser-scaled trees, shrubbery, and perennial plants. The latter plantings can enhance the greater framework by lending human scale, color, and the interest of subtle textures to the site.