More trees please —
The Fourth Bluff works toward certified Arboretum status
The Memphis riverfront is an extraordinary environmental resource, full of diverse plants, flowers and grasses alongside a verdant tree canopy that supports the country’s largest and more important flyway.
This summer, Partnership interns completed a riverfront tree survey — more than 250 acres of land in total — to gain a deeper understanding of the park system’s tree canopy. The results were conclusive. Riverfront trees provide numerous ecological services and human benefits. They are key natural features that can help to combat rising temperatures in Memphis.
Earlier this fall, the riverfront tree canopy was bolstered with 65 new trees in Fourth Bluff Park and River Garden. Thanks to FedEx, One Tree Planted and Memphis City Beautiful, volunteers added new native trees and increased the diversity of habitat in the Fourth Bluff. As a result of this work, the Fourth Bluff is now in the process of qualifying as a certified arboretum, the first on the riverfront.
The Fourth Bluff Arboretum consists of more than 180 trees and 50 species. Learn more about a few of the tree species below:
Eastern Redbud. Also known as ‘Forest Pansy,’ is noted for its stunning pea-like purple flowers that bloom in early spring. Redbuds are native to eastern and central North America in open woodlands and along rocky streams and bluffs.
Kentucky Coffeetree. Female coffee trees produce fragrant flowers and seeds that Native Americans and early settlers roasted and ground to brew a coffee-like beverage. Seeds are toxic prior to roasting and should never be eaten off the tree.
Carolina Allspice. A dense, rounded shrub reaching 6 to 9 feet high. It has unusual, maroon to reddish- brown flowers with a sweet banana-strawberry fragrance.
Bald Cypress. Bald cypress trees may look like evergreens but, in fact, drop their needles every fall. Native to swamps and rivers through the lower Mississippi River valley, they develop distinctive, knobby root “knees” when growing in water.
Yellowwood. A medium sized shade tree with graceful flowers and beautiful fall color. Used as an ornamental, it prefers rich, moist, limestone soil. Early Americans boiled chips of yellowwood to produce a yellow dye.
Fringe Tree. This shrub or small tree produces showy masses of fragrant, lacy, white flowers that hang loosely on slender stalks, like fringe. It prefers deep, moist fertile soils of valleys and bluffs. Its fruit appears like a grape in loose clusters and appeals to songbirds.
