Like the wavering, undulating flight of a forest raven over the Hobart suburbs, a talk I gave to a group of seniors recently wandered off course.
“Encouraging Birds to Your Garden” was supposed to be about the importance of growing native plants in suburban and urban backyards but it deviated to the virtues of an introduced species – the humble apple tree.
I soon found myself with ardent supporters at the Midcity School for Seniors, with the audience barracking for the apple tree. It seemed everyone with a garden, however small, had if not an apple tree but one bearing other fruit. And all these attracted birds.
The words in my speech praising the food-bearing merits of bottlebrush, gum and wattle had been overtaken by vital information about the worth of apple trees when providing food for both bird and mammals in our urban landscapes.
I had just read an article about street and garden trees in my home city of London, considered one of the greenest urban spaces on earth.
I thought the beautiful London planes would have dominated but the latest research – using satellite images of the city – suggests that it is the popular apple tree that is the most prolific. Unlike street trees, apple trees largely remain out of sight in people’s backyards.
Beyond the importance of apple trees, research into street trees has thrown up some surprising facts about how leafy environments are beneficial to city dwellers’ physical and mental well-being.
An indication of the importance of city trees was revealed way back in 1984 when medical researcher Roger Ulrish discovered that hospital patients appeared to recover more quickly from surgery in rooms with green views. Since than a growing body of research has confirmed the benefits of leaf and branch.
In the Canadian metropolis of Toronto, researchers a few years back found that people living on tree-lined streets reported health benefits equivalent to being seven years’ younger or receiving a $10,00 0 salary rise. Besides health benefits, trees have an economic value: trees that are close to buildings reduce air-conditioning in summer and even heating bills in winter.
And there is also a boost to home values. Research in the United States has found that a leafy setting can increase the selling price of properties.
When I bought my own home in Dynnyrne, I went native and set about grubbing out the introduced shrubs and trees planted by the previous owners. But I left two apple trees in place, realising their value to my garden’s wildlife.
In fact, I have never retrieved an apple from the trees: they have all been pecked to pieces by green rosellas, or taken whole by possums.
Along with a checklist of more than 60 bird species spotted in my garden – including half of Tasmania’s 12 endemic species ¬ – a highlight has been seeing a family of ring-tailed possums rattling the branches and leaves of one of apple trees one late summer’s night, denying the more common brush-tailed possums a feed.